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Tampon Tax Eliminated: How did it came about?

Tampon Tax Eliminated: How did it came about?

Why is Viagra not taxed but tampons are?

A very catchy phrase that refers to state sales taxes that applied to menstrual products including pads and cups and the biggest question to annul the so-called tampon tax. 

Despite the momentum to change, there are still thirty-five states who tax the items. There are some opponents of the tax who believed that they should be tax-exempt because they are necessities and they should be treated like groceries and medical supplies. The overall amount of all the boxes of pads you will buy every month for let’s say 40 years, it will add up and would be another example of “pink tax” which is a term for the higher prices women pay for gender-specific products.

A co-founder of the non-profit Period Equity, which is a leading campaign to eliminate the tax, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf said that the tampon tax amounts to sex-based discrimination. 

But others argue that creating exemptions for individual items is misguided and that the states need the revenue. For example, most people agree that soap is a necessity but it is generally taxed. 

A policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, Katherine E. Loughead said that every time another exemption is passed, it means the tax rate that applies to everything else will have to increase in order to generate that same amount of revenue. 

Public opposition to the tax appears to be widespread despite those concerns. According to a survey of 2,000 women in the United States, 67 percent of respondents thought a tax on period products was sexist, this survey was conducted last month by a market research company OnePoll on behalf of Intimina, a menstrual cup manufacturer. 

New York, Connecticut, Nevada, Illinois, and Florida eliminated the tax between 2016 and 2018 while many other states introduced bills to do so. Around the world, countries that nixed the tax include India, Malaysia, Canada, and Australia. Once the negotiations with Brexit are settled, Britain will do so too. 

This year, none were signed into law even if lawmakers in 22 states introduced bills to revoke the tax. Several states took steps to increase access to menstrual products in schools, shelters, and prisons, California and Rhode Island repeal the tax in their budgets, while Virginia decreased it. 

Supporters of “menstrual equity”, a concept that refers to equal access to information and period products, are frustrated because of the inadequate action on the tax in most states. They say they have invited experts to discuss tactics at a conference this fall at Columbia Law School to challenge the tax with legal strategies. 

Katherine Franke believes that the courts will agree that the tax is an unfair penalty on women, Franke is the director of the school’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law. She added that what this case really does is highlight a day-to-day way in which women experience discrimination in one of their most basic bodily functions. 

According to a database compiled by Period equity, in Arizona, Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia bills were introduced but did not advance. 

“Putting states on notice” 

Around the idea that a tax on menstrual products amounts to an unconstitutional tax on women, Ms. Weiss-Wolf and her colleagues say they’re seeking to mobilize legal action. Tax-Free Period is what their new campaign is called. 

In early 2016, in a class-action lawsuit to end the tampon tax, she and Laura Strausfeld, the other founder of Period Equity were involved. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat signed a bill to repeal the tax later that year calling it “a matter of social and economic justice”, the suit was dropped since the plaintiffs agreed to do so. 

In partnership with LOLA, a New York-based company that makes organic pads and tampons, Ms. Weiss-Wolf and Ms. Strausfeld are working on the new campaign. An investor in the company and a tennis superstar Serena Williams said in a statement that she was so proud to support the campaign to end the unfair policies once and for all in the US. 

Ms. Williams added that a tax on period is wrong, telling half of the population that their needs aren’t important is wrong. 

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