Skip to content

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
      • Pregnant people are at 'greater risk' in states hit hard by wildfire smoke, air pollution, new report shows

        Jessica Kutz · April 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
      • U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik wants to elect more Republican women into office

        Barbara Rodriguez · August 13
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Jessica Cisneros takes on the last anti-abortion U.S. House Democrat

        Amanda Becker · February 25
      • Meet J. Michelle Childs, South Carolina judge and possible Supreme Court contender

        Candice Norwood · February 18
      • ‘The bench is loaded’: A record number of Latinas are running for governor

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 11
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: The governor’s races we’re watching in 2022

        Barbara Rodriguez · May 3
      • The 19th Explains: What to know about Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing

        Candice Norwood, Terri Rupar · March 21
      • The 19th Explains: Colleges are dropping the SAT in admissions. That’s a good thing for most girls.

        Nadra Nittle · March 3
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
      • Girls are being socialized to lose political ambition — and it starts younger than we realized

        Barbara Rodriguez · September 23
      • Kathy Hochul’s rise in New York spotlights the barriers to women becoming governors

        Barbara Rodriguez · August 23
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • Woman alleges that an assisted living facility denied her admission because she is transgender

        Sara Luterman · November 8
      • LGBTQ+ seniors fear having to go back in closet for the care they need

        Sara Luterman · October 12
      • The pandemic continues to strain nursing homes. What happens if a lot of them close?

        Mariel Padilla · September 9
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Florida’s redistricting fight continues. The head of the state League of Women Voters talks about what’s at stake.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 19
      • Women have been sounding the alarm ahead of Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 28
      • LGBTQ+ people of color are at risk from rising voter restrictions as federal protections falter in the Senate, advocates say

        Orion Rummler · January 19

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Elections 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Donate to get our member newsletter

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Tampons tax illustration.
(Photo illustration by Clarice Bajkowski/The 19th)

Politics

Three states have killed the ‘tampon tax,’ but advocates want more

Bans on taxing menstrual products are growing around the country. Advocates are cheering the victories, but they want legislatures to take faster action because of the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

Barbara Rodriguez

Statehouses Reporter

Barbara Rodriguez portrait

Published

2021-07-01 16:36
4:36
July 1, 2021
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

A box of tampons or pads will be more affordable in Louisiana and Vermont starting Thursday, as laws exempting menstrual products from those states’ sales taxes goes into effect.

The states are the latest to join a nationwide movement to ban the so-called tampon tax. Advocates are grateful that efforts by states have gradually picked up steam in recent years, but they also want legislatures to take faster action in light of the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

The Louisiana law will eliminate the state sales tax from menstrual products and diapers. It’s a similar story in Vermont, where diapers are already exempt, but now menstrual products will be too.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is a co-founder of Period Equity, a nonprofit that advocates for menstrual products to be tax-exempt. She noted in roughly six years of work to remove the tampon tax, at least 12 states have taken formal action (On Thursday, Maine’s governor signed a budget into law that will eliminate the state’s tampon tax later this year — others already had tax codes that exempted menstrual products.) Lawmakers in at least 20 states introduced legislation this year. But at least 28 states still have the menstrual-related taxes in the books.

“The fact that there are still that many states to go, and that many ‘not success’ stories for the two successes we saw this session, is obviously a signal that there’s so much work to do,” she said.

Andrea Elizondo is one of the co-founders and lead organizers for the Texas Menstrual Equity Coalition, a group that advocated this year for an ultimately unsuccessful bill to eliminate the tampon tax in Texas. She is also the advocacy and outreach operations director for Menstrual Flux, a small nonprofit that sends menstrual kits to anyone in need in the United States.

A newsletter you can relate to

Storytelling that represents you, delivered to your inbox.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Elizondo said she was disappointed that the bill in Texas effectively died because time ran out this session, but she was proud that it advanced out of a legislative committee — a level of action that indicates it may move further along in the future. Elizondo thinks the bill competed for attention in a legislative session jam-packed with fights over a range of issues, including the budget and recovery from the pandemic. She also noted that the advocates she works with are not paid, and that they did the best that they could.

“Going into the next session, I think we have a better chance,” she said. “… It’s just a constant reminder that advocacy is a marathon, and it’s a very long-term commitment.”

Weiss-Wolf, also vice president at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, said the pandemic is even more reason to remove the tampon tax everywhere; research shows people are struggling to purchase menstrual products. Elizondo agreed, noting that the effects of poverty on accessing menstrual products existed way before the pandemic and have only accelerated. She remembers growing up in a single-parent household and having to ration menstrual products between what she and her mother could afford and accessing some limited supplies at school. She tried to use products from home only on the weekends and after school.

“There’s so much to teenage life that’s already stressful and uncomfortable as you go through puberty, that being aware that you lack resources is another additional element and stressor in your life,” she said.

Weiss-Wolf said that in some state legislatures there is an argument over reducing tax revenues amid budget constraints. This doesn’t fly with her. 

“We should never accept that the status quo must fall on the backs of women and people who menstruate to be the bridge there,” she said. “An inequitable and discriminatory tax like the tampon tax can’t be the answer to questions or concerns they have about budget shortfalls.”

Period Equity is part of a lawsuit filed last year that challenged the constitutionality of Michigan’s 6 percent sales tax on menstrual products. The lawsuit is pending, but Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in February told Michigan Advance that her latest budget proposal would include ending the state sales tax on menstrual products. She had previously expressed support for eliminating the tax.

“As we work together to lead a long-lasting economic recovery for our state, this is a fundamental step we can take to create a more equitable economy for all Michiganders,” she told the nonprofit news site.

Weiss-Wolf said legal action in other states is a possibility in the future. She noted that the Michigan lawsuit has drawn the attention of other lawyers, law students and legal clinics around the country. “Nothing’s off the table. In fact, it’s all even more on the table,” she said.

Weiss-Wolf said the tampon tax is “the tip of the iceberg” in a multifaceted strategy aimed at ensuring menstrual access, dignity and equity for all people. That includes making menstrual products more accessible to people in schools and other facilities. “It’s a much broader agenda than just that legislation,” she said of the tampon tax. “So all of it is fuel in the tank for everything still to come.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Building stronger together.

A new model for nonprofit journalism: For our readers. For our team. For our community.

Become a member

Sign up for our newsletter

Up Next

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stands at a podium.

Business & Economy

Women in the Biden White House earn 99 cents for every $1 earned by men

The Biden White House has the narrowest wage gap since the country started tracking it in 1995, according to salary data released Thursday.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Attend an Event
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram