Free Menstrual Products are Coming to Town (Well… in California)

Here’s some context: 

In 2016, California passed a law that provided free menstrual products to schools in disadvantaged areas. Governor Gavin Newsom is extending this law even further by making it mandatory to “include grades six to 12, community colleges and the California State University and University of California systems, starting in the 2022-23 school year.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to private schools or universities, but it is a step in the right direction.  

It seems that Cristina Garcia is one of many women and men in California we have to thank for that. Since 2016, she has been considering how she can use her position as an assembly woman to help bridge the inequality gaps between genders. The newest bill was jointly authored by Garcia and Republican Ling Ling Lang. She put it better than I can so I’ll defer to her: “Government is taxing women for something that is totally out of their control…feminine hygiene is not a choice and should not be taxed.”  

And they did just that in Bill 1561.  

After doing some research, she found that “women in California pay about $7 per month for 40 years of tampons and sanitary napkins.” Statewide, it adds up to “over $20 million annually in taxes.” I don’t know about you guys, but when it’s put like that, I am just speechless.  

Has this been done before?

Throughout the world, only a few countries have enacted policies similar to the one mentioned above. The United States is only one of them with similar policies being enacted in New York, Illinois, New Hampshire, Tennessee and like I said before—California. On a global scale, places such as Scotland, New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, among many others, are providing free menstrual products in either schools, community centers or both.  

This may seem a bit ridiculous—me getting so excited over free tampons. Granted, I have never worried about where or how I will have access to menstrual products I may need, but the same can’t be said for millions of other women around the world. Thankfully, this is a single step in ending both the ‘tampon tax’ and what is known as ‘period poverty.’ 

The “tampon tax”

Despite being pretty self-explanatory, I’ll break it down for you because it can seem like wool is being pulled over your eyes. 

The ‘tampon tax’ is just one fragment of the ‘pink tax.’ Essentially, this means that products specifically geared towards women, such as bras or tampons, tend to be more expensive than they otherwise might be (ie. if they were used by men or anyone identifying as a man). The same definition applies to menstrual products, underwear or even razors.  

What is interesting is that items that might seem less necessary, such as erectile dysfunction pills, aren’t taxed! Regardless of which items are taxed or not, there is still controversy surrounding the issue. 

Nicole Kaeding puts it this way: “Exempting feminine hygiene products from the sales tax base results in less revenue for the state, leading to higher overall rates in the long run.” According to her, there shouldn’t be specific taxes (either higher or lower); instead, there should be a ‘uniform rate’ to “[allow] for the lowest possible rate.”  

And because I don’t know a whole lot about taxes, or finance in general, I’m going to leave that there. But, just a thing to think about.  

Thankfully, menstrual products are not taxed in the state of Florida! 

The names of these organizations say it all…. 

1. Aunt Flow 
2. Period 
3. Dignity Period 
4. Alliance for Period Supplies 

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• hcfsu
• periods
• pink tax