Shakopee Tattoo Shop Owner Says Dayton Tax Plan Would Hurt Bottom Line

Gov. Dayton released more specifics last week about how his sales tax plan would affect individual businesses and services.

One the proposed changes to the tax code would be the expansion of the sales tax for tattoos.

Al Lindback, owner of Lucky Linda's Body Art, said the tax increase would mean raised prices for his customers.

"The only person that’s going to really hurt is the consumer," he said. "Being a service, we’re going to charge what we charge and then tax on top."

He predicted the raised prices would translate to smaller sales.

"It’s already a hard economy for the tattoo artist," he said. "It’s going to make our life harder, it’s going to make the customer’s life harder because with a $200 tattoo, you’re going to throw another $25 or $30 tax on top of that, and it’s going to irritate a whole lot of people.

"I see a direct correlation between gas prices going up and people not coming in the shop, so if they start taxing us for some of this stuff, they’re going to see a real reduction in numbers."