California Joins Global Push To Eliminate 'Tampon Tax'
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- California has joined the global chorus to eliminate sales tax on tampons and sanitary napkins.
State lawmakers are considering a bill that would make feminine hygiene products tax-free, just like food, medicine and other necessities. Assembly Bill 1561 was introduced last January by Christina Garcia, a Democrat from Southern California and will be subject to a hearing by the Revenue and Taxation Committed on March 14.
"Effectively we are being taxed for being born as women," Garcia said in a statement. The bill "is about social justice, gender equity in our tax code, it's an opportunity to end an outdated tax that uniquely targets women for a function of their body, a function we don't control and can't ignore every month of our adult life."
Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have already eliminated the so-called 'period tax' or 'tampon tax,' and more states are expected follow suit in the near future. Anti-tampon tax legislation is currently under consideration in Wisconsin, Illinois, Utah, Ohio, California, New York, Michigan and Connecticut.
Representative Melissa Sargent authored the Wisconsin bill. In that state, Viagra is not taxed, but tampons and pads are. She blamed the taboos surrounding menstruation for the tax and the general malaise surrounding women's periods. "Some women are ashamed of their period," she said in an interview with NPR.
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So-called 'period shaming' made the headlines last when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump threw shade at Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly at a debate, saying, "... she had blood was coming out of her wherever." The insult, whether implied or taken, was that Kelly was on her period and therefore unworthy of the GOP frontrunner's time. The biological truth, however, is that without periods, no one would be alive, including Trump.
To drive home that point, taboos surrounding women's periods are being challenged daily on social media where the hashtag #periodswithoutshame has gained momentum and more and more women are standing up to 'period shaming.' British marathon runner Kiran Ghandi recently made headlines after she ran the race without a tampon and crossed the finish line with blood-stained tights.
Kiran Ghandi on running the London Marathon without a tampon http://t.co/fEvh8RpC9n pic.twitter.com/miTmSNtsc2
— Hearst Women (@HearstWomen) August 16, 2015
Women in France and the U.K. have taken to the streets to eliminate the tampon tax. Here in the U.S. a petition on Change.org calling for nationwide legislation has garnered more than 50,000 signatures.
"Change is possible," it reads. "This summer, Canada made history when its Parliament voted unanimously to eliminate a national tax on menstrual products. Across the pond and down under, women in the U.K. and Australia are insisting their governments do the same. A global movement is underway!"
CBSSF.com writer, producer Jan Mabry is also executive producer and host of The Bronze Report. She lives in Northern California. Follow her on Twitter @janmabr.
