The Tampon Tax: Sales Tax, Menstrual Hygiene Products, and Necessity Exemptions

Women in the United States face many economic obstacles that their male counterparts do not. Many of these obstacles – including the wage gap, economic issues related to childbearing, and implicit bias in the workplace, among others – are the result of multiple political, social, and cultural factors, making them hard to eliminate. The tampon tax is comparatively simple to take on: if state legislatures decide to remove it, women will no longer have to pay it. The term “tampon tax” refers to how the majority of states impose a general sales tax on tampons, pads, reusable menstrual cups, and other menstrual hygiene products.

Some supporters of ending the tampon tax also consider it to be part of the “pink tax,” which refers more broadly to the additional cost women pay for common products such as razors.