A tax on haircuts will reduce tips, annoy customers and kill business, Valley salon owners said Thursday.
“It’s going to affect our bottom line. How are we, as business owners, going to keep our salons open?” asked Josie Campolattano, owner of 67 West Hair Designers in Seymour.
Gov. Dannel Malloy unveiled his state budget Wednesday. Part of the spending plan calls for haircuts, manicures and other salon services to no longer be exempt from sales tax.
Carrie Jones-Sollami rents a chair at E and Company, a salon under Sterling Towers on Olivia Street in Derby — but she turned into a political activist after Malloy’s announcement.
Jones-Sollami took to the Valley Indy’s Facebook page Thursday morning, offering her cell phone number to Malloy for the governor to call and chat.
“If you tax haircuts we may as well close our doors. People can hardly afford to get their hair cut,” she wrote.
“(Customers) are already stretching their appointments and canceling because of job losses. They can’t afford it. They’re buying their own colors and asking us to put them in,” Jones-Sollami said. The tax will be the straw that breaks “our backs,” she said.
The probable result will be that tips are cut back as well, Campolattano said.
Further, some barbers will probably go underground, cutting hair on the side at their home or during house visits.
“I would hate for that to happen, because it doesn’t elevate our profession to the professional standard we as hairdressers want to be seen as,” Campolattano said.
