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August 18, 2009

Tattoo Tax possible in California

Democrats in Legislature target Sure Moneymaker

(GNN) Sacramento - As California's fiscal crisis deepens, despite desperate efforts by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature, the state's politicians are casting about for ways to relieve the financial - and political - pressure.

That's why, out of the clear blue, taxing tattoos at an annual rate of $1.50 per marking, has moved to the Capitol's front burner.

The California Teachers Association and other labor unions are pushing this tax on body art, citing an increased number of tattoos in the general population. Tattoos that, in California, have escaped taxation for decades.

The Legislature's majority Democrats already have endorsed an extra $1.00-per-tattoo surcharge for markings above the neck or on the hands. The new taxes, if adopted, are expected to raise at least $2 billion per year.

Any tax on body art, however, would require at least some Republican support because of the constitutional requirement for two-thirds votes on new taxes. So it's not surprising that tattoo parlors and rock stars have been ramping up their opposition, distributing an informational handout explaining that citizens who would be impacted by this tax are individuals who, by lifestyle, reject the concepts of taxation and government control. .

The tattoo industry argues that tattoo taxes would encourage more "intimate and subtle body art" and fail to generate the purported $2 billion in new revenues.

Taxing tattoos or body piercings is politically attractive because polls consistently show it to be one of the few popular proposed levies. However, some critics argue that it's a regressive tax that falls mostly on lower-income consumers, and that tattoo revenues will fade as tattoing declines, making it an unstable source of money.

Californians purchased nearly 0.3 tattoos per capita per year four decades ago, but popularity has now increased to some 302 million tattoos a year in all.

The Mackinac study estimates that 16.8 percent of California's tattoos are hidden on shoulders, breasts, and lower backs, 10.7 percent on genitalia, 8 percent on the face, and 35.5 on the legs or arms.

We should hear a lot more about this in the months ahead as the state's fiscal noose tightens.

53 comments:

B.B. said...

So much for "Keep YOUR laws off of MY body".

The pro-abortion crowd must be 100% against this, right?

Right?

*crickets chirp*

lovelyprism said...

I'm assuming this is on new art. Surely we haven't fallen so far into the rabbit hole that they expect us to report tats that can't be seen by the general public. Not that I'd know anything about that ;-)

Steve: The Lightning Man said...

Simply put the gun to my head now. Kill me. If indeed it comes to this, then I want a fence built to keep California out of the Union. They can have my tattoos when they carve them off my cold dead body...

Opus #6 said...

Won't the tattoo business move out of state? Will they inspect residents at state borders to make sure no new tattoos have cropped up? How thorough will these inspections be?

Rhod said...

The Tramp Stamp Act.

Mango's Madness said...

When are we going to stop the madness? These people are out of control!

Timeshare Jake said...

Must be fun living in a state so desperate for money that nothing is off the table.

T. F. Stern said...

I'll never forget the first time I walked into a tattoo shop and there in the front lobby was a woman bent over, fully exposed getting a tattoo on her butt. I was a cop at the time and there on business; flat forgot what I was there for to tell the truth. Now you're telling me the tax man is gonna get a piece of that. lol

Anonymous said...

Boy, I hope I got that story exactly right.

Anonymous said...

Prism, there's talks of audit squads to do inspections.

Anonymous said...

Steve, that gun to your head is taxable.

Anonymous said...

Opie, How thorough??

It's a job I don't want.

Anonymous said...

Rhod... Please, take this seriously!

Anonymous said...

Mango, madness is in the eyes of the beholder. These tats are a beautiful cash cow (no offense, DC).

Anonymous said...

Bill...

Some say desperate. I say creative.

Anonymous said...

TF, the bill for that joke's tax is in the mail.

Snarky Basterd said...

Will they be taxing nose rings, lip rings, tongue rings, nipple rings, and...um...other rings, too?

(Still on the cross-country mini-van tour...I'll be hanging around regularly soon.)

CI-Roller Dude said...

Again, this was so funny I spewed coffee out of my nose and all over the keyboard. I can see them taxing tats in a different way.
If it's on you forehead and says something like:"Retard" or "Dumbass" that should not get taxed because that's a public warning.
A tat on the arm or body part that can be seen, should cost more.
A tat that is only seen when wearing short sleeves (like mine) should be half tax.
A tat on the ass, should be a sin tax and cost more.
A tat that's military, should have a military discount.

I can see citizens going across the border into Mex He Co and getting non-taxed tats and getting infections and dying....

el chupacabra said...

"Tramp stamp act" here, here- good one.

Rhod said...

CI Dude, what do you recommend for the teardrop under the eyes?

Rhod said...

Chupa, exactly. "Here, Here" is a great tat for some body locations.

Anonymous said...

Nickie.. you are a genius. You should have your own show or something...

I can't write a word in my blog anymore after I've read yours! But I won't hold it against you. You simply say what many of us think but you do it much, MUCH better :)

Opus #6 said...

Mammon, Nickie is a tortured genius.

By his friends and enemies alike.

CI-Roller Dude said...

Tear drop under the eye?

Failure drill. 2 to the chest, one to the head...tax.

anon said...

I see a loss of taxed income revenue for the government, and an increased amount hard to trace cash transactions between tattooers and tattooees.

Huh, see now I'm fighting with spell check again.
'Tattooees' is So a word!

LL said...

Boy Named Sous: "They can have my tattoos when they carve them off my cold dead body"

Don't say that too loud.

We have to start taxing things we never thought to tax. Tattoos, mustaches, bibles, graveyard headstones, etc.

Anonymous said...

Dave, it would make no sense to tax the hardware. They're too easily removed. They're gonna hafta tax the holes.

Anonymous said...

Dude... Easy! That's 3 keyboards this month.

LL has a team of off-shore tattoo artists just waiting for the rush.

Anonymous said...

Rhod, the teardrop tattoo is passe, even in stir. The standard is now the titanium embedded teardrop.

Anonymous said...

Chup, stop feeding him. Rhod's the kind of guy who'll drive around the block three times just to make a pun.

Anonymous said...

Mammon, I feel so bad now for turning you in with that White House email.

Anonymous said...

Ope, I still have the scars.

Anonymous said...

Powdie, hard-to-track transactions, maybe. But those new TSA X-Ray machines will track down those valuable bootlegged tats.

Anonymous said...

LL, I hear Obama is thinking about taxing dietary fiber as a factor in overloaded sewage treatment plants.

Rhod said...

LL is a genius...and so is Goomba, but not as consistent. Tax headstones!

And Opie's tortured genius quip?

Anonymous said...

I say "Tax the damned quip!"

Anonymous said...

Listen, I saw this coming ... That's why I left the state many years ago. Here in Texas, we have written into our unwieldy constitution the prohibition against taxing tattoos upon the lower body only.

There has been a move afoot, so to speak, to limit this, but "Big Shin Tats" has beat them back. There's also been a move toward the "slap" standard, that is, if you can slap the tat, you can tax it. But Big Slap is not a player in Texas.

I knew there was a reason to live here.

Nice work, Nicholas. And the Impaler is only giving you a ration because its hard to get flying down the runway and launch a flaming screed on the wings of such a a public service as this post.

Anonymous said...

He's irked by the fiber revelation. He considers the stuff his own personal over-the-counter heroin.

Anonymous said...

I remember an incident in 2005 when that little "slap standard" of yours earned you quite a restraining order. Can you return to Louisiana?

Anonymous said...

Theres no tattoo tax in California. This is not true.

Anonymous said...

I don't know, Anonymous. Then again, if you have non-military tats, you have probably googled this to make sure.

Slap a tax. Slap a lien. Slap a tat. It's all about regulatin'. You do what you have to do.

I simply speed through LA in the dead of night now, non unlike ... how I have always traveled the Land that Time Forgot.

Opus #6 said...

Tax the quip? OK, what do I owe.

Anonymous said...

$2 for the quip.

$2 surcharge for the sarcasm

Rhod said...

This blog is quipping everyone into a frenzy.

anon said...

Rhod,
'quipping frenzy?

ROFL!

blackandgoldfan said...

Anonymous: This post wasn't saying that this tax exists now. But it may in the future.

If they want to tax body modification, what about boob jobs and penile implants? In California, they could triple the tax revenue.

Opus #6 said...

B&G, don't you go NEAR the Botox, though. Pelosi might object.

Rhod said...

Powdie, Goomba says I'll drive around the block three times for a pun.

I never have to drive that far.

Kid said...

The Toyota Tunda plant is moving from California to San Antonio Texas, one of two states that are still financially sound.

What a Shocka !

California is committing economic suicide.

Anonymous said...

Kid, you're right... but the knife is at my kids' throats.

Anonymous said...

Botox?? I thought it was that flesh-eating virus.

Anonymous said...

HAH! Your tattoo tax post got a place on the Sacramento Bee web page "Topic: California Teachers Association" as a twitter link! How the heck did you pull that off? It's a scream!

http://topics.sacbee.com/California+Teachers+Association/

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