ACROSS AMERICA — It has taken more than four decades, but more states than not now exempt tampons, pads and other period products from sales tax.
That’s a small victory for the 2 in 5 women and girls in the United States who experience what’s called “period poverty” or “menstrual inequity.” It affects 1 in 4 girls, up from 1 in 5 in 2019.
In 28 states and the District of Columbia, people in this economic subgroup no longer have to scramble for the extra dimes for the sales tax on period products.
But in 22 other states, period poverty causes real harm, both financially and socially, said Lacey Gero, who oversees state policy matters for the Alliance for Period Supplies, an organization formed in 2018 to help women access the products they need to live normal lives.
In general, people who experience “period poverty” live so close to the economic edge that with groceries, gas for their cars if they have them, housing and utility costs all in competition for meager earnings, something has to go to come up with the extra 40 to 70 cents needed to buy a box of tampons that costs 10 bucks.
“For those who were having a hard time purchasing products and are a few dollars or pennies short, this helps them,” Gero said.
It’s not just a matter of small change.
About 1 in 3 women who experience period poverty and can’t afford supplies also miss work or school every month, Gero said.
“Women who struggle with period poverty miss out a lot on daily life,” she said. “If they don’t have the products, they can’t go to school or work.”
That can contribute to a wide range of other issues related to gender discrimination, but also physical and mental health.
“People definitely don’t think about it if they haven’t experienced period poverty,” Gero said. “And for those who have, there are definitely feelings of embarrassment they can’t provide for themselves.
And while the religious shame and cultural taboos around a woman’s menses in the Dark Ages have mostly fallen — even as some women live for a few days every month as if they had stepped back in time — enough residual discomfort remained that issues like menstrual inequity and period poverty just never came up.
“We don’t like to talk about periods,” she continued. “The stigma is still so prevalent round periods, that people’s ears just turn off when they hear the word ‘period.’ Trouble to bring it to people’s attention, but once you get past that, people are still willing to listen.”
The drive to lift the sales taxes on period products hummed quietly along for nearly four decades, beginning in Minnesota in 1981, and then with a roar echoed in other women’s empowerment and economic justice movements in the middle part of the last decade. In addition to the five states that don’t collect sales taxes at all, 23 others have made period products tax-exempt.
Most of the states that now exempt period products sales taxes took action after 2016, after the #MeToo and other women’s equity movements became more prominent. With their action, an important chapter is being written in women’s history.
Despite that progress, 22 states still treat tampons, pads and other period products as “non-essential,” leaving taxes on them at anywhere from 4 percent to 7 percent in Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
“We have to make these states realize it’s not a luxury,” Gero said.
Elected officials in states that still tax period products aren’t from a throwback era, Gero said.
“It does cost states to get rid of the tampon tax because they’re losing revenue, and it becomes a battle of, ‘how are we going to fill that gap?’ ” she said. “It can be a couple of million dollars.”
A handful of states, including Indiana and Tennessee with the 7 percent sales tax, have legislation in the works to exempt the products, Gero said.
Unlike the other women’s movements that reached an apex in the middle of the last decade, the work being done around period poverty has been largely bipartisan.
“In the past three years, both sides have really come together,” said Gero, who lives in Louisiana, a majority Republican state where the governor is the only Democrat elected to statewide office. Gero’s state exempted period products from sales taxes in 2021.
“It was incredible to see both sides of the aisle coming together on this piece of legislation,” she said.
Women and girls use an average of 40 period products per menstrual cycle, and states taxing them aren’t eager to give up the revenue streams into their treasuries, Gero said. Sales tax rates in these states range from 4 percent to 7 percent in Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
“It does cost states to get rid of the tampon tax because they’re losing revenue, and it becomes a battle of, ‘how are we going to fill that gap?’ ” Gero told Patch. “It can be a couple of million dollars.”
Currently, the jurisdictions where period products are exempt from sales tases are California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
The states that don’t have a sales tax are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon.
Among the 22 states that still collect taxes is Utah. Lawmakers eliminated the state sales tax on period products in 2019 as part of a larger tax reform bill. The overall bill was so unpopular it sparked a citizen referendum, and lawmakers had to repeal their own bill in 2020. That restored the tampon tax.
The other states with tampon taxes are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
A handful of states, including Indiana and Tennessee with the 7 percent sales tax, have legislation in the works to exempt the products, Gero said.
The Alliance for Period Products was formed in 2018 by the National Diaper Bank Network, a New Haven, Connecticut-based charity that connects lower-income families with a reliable supply of clean, dry diapers for their babies.
Eliminating tampon taxes alone won’t end period poverty, which is intertwined with other systemic issues, Gero said.
Before the pandemic, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies, 4 in 5 teens reported they had missed class or knew someone who had because they didn’t have access to period products.
The Alliance for Period Supplies and the group Period, a global youth-led movement to end period poverty, are working together to offer free period product in all schools.
Fifteen state have passed legislation providing free access to period products. They are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
Five states — Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri and North Carolina — have grant programs for schools to provide period products, but don’t require local school districts to distribute them.
The specifics of state laws vary widely. Some provide funding to make products available, while others are unfunded mandates. Many require the products be made available in middle and high school restrooms, while others include elementary restrooms. Some states include colleges and universities in their legislation.
Among other efforts, New York Democratic Congresswoman Grace Meng has introduced the Menstrual Equity for All Act. In general, it would require that women have access to free menstrual products on the street, in jails and prison, at their jobs and schools and at federal buildings.
Also, a provision in the 2020 CARES Act coronavirus stimulus package contained an amendment to the IRS code to make the purchase of tampons, pads, liners and cups as FSA and HSA eligible expenses.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox.Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 7:39 pm ETClick Here: FC Barcelona soccer tracksuit