Tampon tax

The United Kingdom has levied a value-added tax on sanitary products since it joined the European Economic Community in 1973. This rate was reduced to 5% specifically for sanitary products in 2000 with lobbying from Member of Parliament Dawn Primarolo saying that this reduction was "about fairness, and doing what we can to lower the cost of a necessity."[14] This is the lowest rate possible under the European Union's value added tax law, which as of 2015 does not allow zero rates. The UK Independence Party raised the issue in the 2015 general election with promises to withdraw from the European Union and allow the zero rate. Prime Minister David Cameron commented, when prompted, that the tampon tax campaign was "long-standing" and a complicated issue within the European Union.[3] In England, one in ten women between 14 and 21 cannot afford menstrual management products.[15][16]

Laura Coryton led a "Stop taxing periods, period" campaign with an online petition to have the European Union remove the value-added tax for sanitary products.[17] George Osborne mentioned the petition by name in his 2015 Autumn Statement pledge to end the tampon tax at the European Union level. The petition platform's CEO cited the campaign as an example of successful clicktivism,[18] with over 320,000 signatures.[19][20] In March 2016, Parliament created legislation to eliminate the tampon VAT, following a budget amendment by Labour MP Paula Sherriff.[21].[19][22] It was expected to go into effect by April 2018 but did not do so; several British women protested for it publicly while displaying blood stains from their periods.[1] On 3 October 2018, new EU VAT rules that will allow the UK to stop taxing sanitary products were proposed by the European Parliament. However they would not go into effect until January 2022 at the earliest, and no timeline for implementation has been tabled.[23] As of March 2020, the tampon tax is considered likely to finally be abolished when the transition period for Britain leaving the EU ends in December 2020.[21]

In July 2017, a pilot programme began in Scotland to have free sanitary products available at schools and food banks for women who cannot afford them.[24] The pilot scheme was launched for six months in Aberdeen, with £42,500 of funding from the devolved Scottish Government in order to address the growing scandal of "period poverty". It was believed 1,000 girls would benefit from the scheme, as there were reports of teenage girls using tissues, toilet roll, torn T-shirts and even newspaper as makeshift sanitary products, with some girls even skipping school altogether. It was decided to launch the scheme to improve attainment and school attendance, as well as improve confidence amongst teenage girls during their period; Scotland is believed to be the first country in the world to give out free sanitary products as part of a government-sponsored initiative.

Further to this half-year pilot programme, Scotland's opposition Labour Party intends to introduce a bill to make this permanent.

A study by the WHO and UNICEF showed that one out of five women in Scotland have been forced to improvise with items including toilet paper and old clothes due to the high cost of commercial products.

A bill to make period products available for free to everyone who needs them received preliminary approval in the Scottish Parliament in February 2020.[25]

US states taxing tampons as of June 2019

  Tampons taxed

  Tampons not taxed

  No state sales tax

In the United States, almost all states tax "tangible individual property" but exempt non-luxury "necessities": groceries, prescriptions, prosthetics, agriculture supplies, and sometimes clothes—the exemptions vary between states.[1] Most states charge sales tax for women's pads and tampons.[26] Five states do not have a state sales tax (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon), and as of June 2019, thirteen US states specifically exempted essential hygiene products: Utah,[27] Ohio,[28] California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.[1][2][29][30][31] California repealed the tax in its 2019 state budget, but only for the two-year duration of the budget. Seven other states have introduced such legislation, most recently Nebraska, Virginia, and Arizona.

Many federal assistance programs such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Women, Infants and Children) do not allow the use of those funds for products such as pads or tampons despite the products' classification as medical devices. The IRS does not classify female products as medical devices, thus blocking women from buying them with pre-tax dollars in both flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts.[32]

There have been some changes to the tampon taxes, but most of these changes are at the state or city level. On a smaller scale, individual cities have also changed their laws in favor of eliminating the tampon tax (e.g. Denver, Colorado).[33]

California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia reported that California women each pay roughly US$7 per month over 40 years, constituting US$20 million in annual taxes. Garcia and Ling Ling Chang proposed a bill to remove the tampon tax in early 2016. At this time, only a handful of the country's states exempted tampons, and several others had no state sales tax. Garcia held that women were taxed "for being women" and bore an economic burden for having no other choice but to buy these products. Garcia and Chang added that the tax was "regulatory discrimination" that disproportionately affected poor women and women of color, and that it likely persisted due to social taboos against discussing menstruation.[1] Both houses of the California State Legislature voted to exempt tampons from taxation in June 2016,[2] but the bill was vetoed by the state's governor, Jerry Brown, three months later.[34]

California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed AB-1561 due to the potential loss of money in taxing feminine hygiene products. In response, Cristina Garcia co-authored AB-0479: Common Cents Tax Reform Act with Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, which is a new measure outlining a solution to offset the feminine product and diaper tax exemption by increasing the tax on hard liquor. This bill was ultimately gutted and amended with provisions on workers' compensation.[35]

In 2017, California State Legislature passed AB 10 (Ch. 687) requiring public middle schools and high schools where at least 40% of students meet the federal poverty level to stock half of the restrooms with free tampons and sanitary napkins. The law was passed in an effort to eliminate the cost burden and keep low-income students in schools during their menstrual cycle.[36][37]

Companies involved in supplying the necessary feminine hygiene products (tampons and pads) for complete menstrual care in the restrooms of schools include WAXIE and Hospeco. They also supply various options for menstrual product dispensers that have a time delay mechanism to prevent products from being overused and/or abused.[38][39]

In June 2019, menstrual products were exempted from the sales tax in the state budget, but only for the two-year duration of the budget. The exemption will be revisited in future budgets.[31]

In July 2016, New York State exempted feminine hygiene products from taxation, reducing the state's tax revenue by an estimated US$10 million annually.[2] In the court case of the "Tampon Tax", attorney Zoe Salzman defended the movement of repealing the taxes on feminine menstrual products.[40] Part of the case was also a plea for refunding the women for all of the taxes that they had to pay on feminine menstrual products in the past.[40] Ultimately the case ruled to repeal the taxes on feminine menstrual products, but not to refund the women of New York the previous taxes. Connecticut and Illinois also removed their tax in 2016, with Florida following suit in 2017.[41][42]

A 2018 empirical study on New Jersey's 2005 tax break on menstrual products found that "repealing tampon taxes removes an unequal tax burden and could make menstrual hygiene products more accessible for low-income consumers".[43] The study utilized data from more than 16,000 purchases in 2004–2006 made in New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, using these latter nearby states as the control group. Through a differences-in-differences approach, they found that after the repeal, consumer prices on menstrual products decreased by 7.3%, relative to the control states. This was greater than the 6.9% sales tax, suggesting that the consumers benefitted from the tax break. Upon further analysis, the study also found that the decrease in consumer prices was greater for low-income consumers than high-income consumers (3.9% decrease versus 12.4% decrease).[43] This suggests that low-income consumers received the most benefit from the tax break, while high-income consumers shared the benefit with producers of menstrual products.

Many states that have tampon taxes have tried to repeal or eliminate the tax via legislation and have been denied. US states such as Tennessee, Arizona, and Virginia have introduced legislation.[44][45] In Utah, Representative Susan Duckworth introduced a bill that would have exempted menstrual hygiene products from sales tax, titled "Hygiene Tax Act".[44] Products exempted included such items as tampons and disposable diapers.[44] Legal scholars point out that when the bill was sent to the Utah taxation committee to be voted on, eight of the eleven men voted against the bill.[44] In November 2019, during a “special legislative session” and a Governor signature, Utah became the thirteenth US state to abolish the tampon tax. Effective from January 1, 2020.[46]

In November 2019, Ohio became the 12th US state to repeal the pink or tampon tax.[47] Both Representatives Greta Johnson and Brigid Kelly introduced the bills for years and finally became law in November 2019 – that would exempt feminine menstrual products from the state's sales tax.[44] Legal scholars note that Ohio women still have to pay around four million dollars each year due to taxes on these items as they are not exempt from local taxes.[44]

In Tennessee, the same bill was sent to the Senate and House to reduce the 7% sales tax on feminine products, defined as "any product to be used by women with respect to menstruation ... [including] tampons, pads, liners, [and] cups".[44][45] Both the Senate and the House did not pass the bill.[45]

In Virginia, a delegate named Mark Keam introduced House Bill 952. The bill wanted to exempt the same products as Ohio and Utah from the 5.3% sales tax.[45] Like the other two states, the bill was not passed.[45]

In January 2015 the Canadian government recognised sanitary products as an essential item, ending the GST tax on all sanitary products.[48] The Canadian government is currently debating whether to make menstrual products free in the workplace.[49] The Government of Canada has published a Notice of Intent to the Canadian Gazette seeking feedback on providing free products in federally regulated workplaces; stakeholders and Canadians were able to feedback until July 2, 2019.[50] Providing free menstrual products in workplaces is expected to bring better health and workplace productivity and reduced stigma around the conversation of menstruation.[51] Under Part II of the Canada labour Code, employers are already required to provide toilet paper, soap, warm water, and a way to dry hands.[52] Women or gender non-conforming persons who require menstrual products make up 40% of the federal workforce,[48] and the financial burden of sanitary products rests entirely on them, burdening or severely negatively impacting those who need them, adding required sanitation products will allow for greater equality in the workplace and more opportunity for people with lower income.[53]

On May 28, 2015 the Canadian Federal Government voted in favour of lifting the tampon tax federally.[49] The tax was ultimately repealed July 1, 2015.[54] This was inspired by an online petition organized by Canadian Menstruators, an online advocacy group, which thousands of Canadians signed and presented to the Federal Government of Canada in Ottawa.[55]

Critics have pointed out that sanitary products are still taxed under tariffs under Canadian tariff laws.[56]