Last week, United States citizens went to the ballot boxes to cast their votes for who they want to represent them in office on a national, state and local level. While you may vote based on your personal morals and values or the policies a certain candidate proposes, what about voting based on your business interests?
Recently, the Professional Beauty Association has been involved in lobbying for different initiatives in Congress to help benefit hair and beauty professionals:
In 1993, Congress passed the 45B FICA tax tip credit, allowing restaurants to claim a dollar-for-dollar tax tip credit on the employer portion of FICA taxes that businesses pay on tips that employees receive directly from their customers. As the second-highest tipped industry, beauty employers should receive parity with the restaurant employers in the tax code, but presently do not. Bipartisan legislation currently making its way through Congress would change that, finally enabling the beauty industry to achieve tax parity.
In conjunction with the Texture Education Collective, the Professional Beauty Association is working towards a shared goal of encouraging cosmetology state board licensing requirements and curriculums nationwide to be inclusive of all hair types and textures. One of the primary objectives of the TEC is to encourage states to adopt textured hair education as part of their curriculum and state board exams. The goal is to empower cosmetologists and stylists with the confidence to consult and work with clients who have textured hair, while maintaining the styling performance, health and safety standards they learn in their cosmetology programs. They have currently helped pass legislation in Louisiana, New York, Minnesota, Connecticut and California.
These are just a few initiatives that impact the industry, and the representatives you vote into office will play a role as to whether legislation like this gets enacted into law, which is why it's important to vote! So, we asked our followers if they're paying attention to what bills the hair industry is lobbying to be passed into law in the U.S. You can see the results of the poll below.
Stay tuned for more weekly polls from Beauty Launchpad each Tuesday, and don't forget to cast your vote on our website or in our Instagram stories (@beautylaunchpad).
