Why Tampons and Pads Should Not Have a Luxury Tax in All States

What do condoms, ChapStick, sunscreen, and Viagra have that feminine hygiene products don’t? A tax exemption. Not only are pads and tampons not exempt from taxes, but in many states they are taxed as “luxury items”. A luxury tax is a tax on products not considered essential, which may be modeled after a sales tax.

Now if you’re a woman, or you have a basic understanding of women, you may be scratching your head, thinking But wait every woman has a period. Aren’t feminine hygiene products essential to their daily lives? Well, yes they are. However many state lawmakers don’t see it that way. Just last week in Tennessee, Republican lawmakers proposed pushing back on the bill SB 1724, a bill that would exempt tampons, pads, liners, and cups. Senator Sara Kyle proposed this bill stating, “I come to you today with a very small plea: that we take the tax off these products for just one weekend”. The committee of male republicans mostly pushed against the proposal for fear that women could potentially buy the items in bulk and cost the state thousands of dollars in revenue. The thing is, the state’s total budget is roughly $40 billion, and the tampon proposal would cost the state a mere $133,000 in annual revenue. While it is a large number, lifting the tax exemption off of products that aren’t as essential would make up for whatever is lost from the tax removal of feminine hygiene products.

Connecticut, Illinois, Florida, Rhode Island, Ohio, Utah, Nevada and New York have completely eliminated the sales tax on these products, with California putting a temporary ban until 2023. A recent study found that one in five teens have struggled to afford products for their period, and one in four teens have missed class due to no access to products. This problem can be known as “Period Poverty”, which is the inability to afford menstrual products.

Now let’s use some common sense here. The only time a woman has ever looked forward to her period is if she is having a pregnancy scare. Other than that, the special time of the month is often dreaded for many women. A woman gets her period around the age of twelve and has it until around their early fifties. Their period comes once every month, unless there is a health condition, or it is influenced by birth control. There’s twelve months in a year, and a box of tampons cost about $13. That right there is roughly around  $156 spent in a year for tampons. Now let’s say a woman has her period from age twelve to fifty two, which is the common age to start menstruating, and to hit menopause. That is forty years of a period, and roughly $6,240 spent on just tampons, not even including the cost of pads, panty liners, new underwear, heating pads, over the counter medication for cramps, and hormonal acne medication. Just by those numbers, one can see that a period is not cheap to keep up with. While yes, an average income can afford this, many women do not make an average income.

The fact of the matter is that the male lawmakers who believe these products should be taxed as a luxury just don’t understand why it isn’t. In 2016, YouTube star Ingrid Nilsen asked Obama why there was a tax put on these products, and he said he didn’t understand why, other than the fact that these bills were written by men, who obviously have never experienced menstruation. My message to these men, who never experienced menstruation, would be that a period is never a luxury, so do not tax it as one.

-“Gloria E”

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