Tampon Tax
- Neha Thomas
- Jul 1, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 9
Tampon Tax: luxury tax and other taxes levied on menstrual hygiene products.
Current issue:
Increases overall price of menstrual products
Further limits accessibility to menstrual hygiene products to lower-income women
Items such as other essential goods and health products like prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs, condoms, canned foods, and toilet paper are typically tax-exempt
Sale tax policies vary greatly among the states:
Some states do not tax any sales
Some offer a tax rebate for period products
Some have a lower tax rate
Some have passed bills to exempt period products like other basic necessities
In many states, cities and counties impose an additional local sales tax on menstrual hygiene products
Among the states:
As of May 14, 2024, 20 states charge sales tax on period products
Sales taxes range from 4% to 7% in Indiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee
5 U.S. states (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon) do not have a statewide sales tax
Recent period product tax achievements:
2024
South Carolina passed a bill that went into effect on May 13, 2024, to exempt period products from taxation.
2023
Texas passed a bill that went into effect on September 1, 2023, to eliminate the tax on period products
Before the bill was passed, Texas classified period products as optional or luxury items and applied a 6.25% tax
In 20 U.S. states that still impose the tampon tax, Americans who buy menstrual products made by the Tampon Tax Back Coalition eight brands: August, Cora, Diva, Here We Flo, The Honey Pot, Lola, Raeland Saalt, can be reimbursed for the sales tax
Shoppers must text photos of their receipts within 10 days of purchasing menstrual products to be repaid (https://tampontaxback.com/)
2022
Nebraska ended its tax on period products in April 2022
Colorado passed a bill that went into effect on August 10, 2022, to end the tampon tax
In 2019, Virginia classified period products as necessities similar to food and dropped the tax rate to 1.5% instead of 7%. In July 2022, they removed the sales tax on essentials. The bill went into effect on January 1, 2023.
Retailer CVS agreed to pay tampon taxes on behalf of the consumer in 10 states where it still stands (Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia)
To make menstrual products more accessible, CVS also dropped CVS-brand period products prices by 25% across its stores
During the pandemic, the federal stimulus bill categorized menstrual products as essential, permitting customers to buy them with money from health savings and flexible savings account.
Led to 10 states eliminating their tampon tax between 2020 and 2022
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