Is the tan tax 'racist'?

(Image credit: Corbis)

last updated 8 January 2015

The new health care reform law imposes a 10 percent fee on tanning salon use — and that's "racist," according to Glenn Beck radio show guest host Doc Thompson. Standing in for Beck, Thompson announced on air Tuesday that, because "light-skinned Americans" make up a majority of tanning salon patrons, the "tan tax" unjustly targets whites. "Who uses tanning? Is it dark-skinned people? I don't think so," said Thompson. While the odd conservative blogger defended Thompson's claims, liberal critics quickly jumped on the statement. Suggesting that the tan tax is somehow "racist," says Alex Seitz-Wald in Think Progress, is simply "absurd." The "real motivation behind the tanning tax is to disincentivize the carcinogenic practice of indoor tanning," not to discriminate against "white people." Listen to Doc Thompson's full statement below: