Image source: http://www.healthfreedoms.org/new-york-is-paving-the-way-to-axing-the-tampon-tax/
Ever wonder what senators pass bills on? As an everyday citizen, one may think that senators mainly pass legislature on national security and foreign policy, one may be quite surprised to find that the exemption of “tampon tax” is actually on top of the to-do list for some of our civil servants.
What is “tampon tax”? The name “tampon tax” contains a conjecture that tampons are different from all other commodities that they are taxed excessively. The reality is not the case. In 2017, tampons are taxed just as much as any other regular items in department stores in most states except for nine (Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland,Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania), which means that California women have to pay the sales tax on tampons just like they have to on all the other items except for necessities such as food and some drugs in department stores.
Many female celebrities, including Ashley Judd claimed war on the dichotomy of male-female inequality on “tampon tax”: “I am nasty like my bloodstains on my bed sheets. We don’t actually choose if and when to have our periods. Believe me, if we could some of us would. We do not like throwing away our favorite pairs of underpants. Tell me, why are pads and tampons still taxed when Viagra and Rogaine are not? Is your erection really more than protecting the sacred messy part of my womanhood? Is the bloodstain on my jeans more embarrassing than the thinning of your hair? ”
Her narrative, while representative of the narrative of many female political activists was dichotomic and inaccurate. Tampons are taxed at the same rates as Viagra and Rogaine, as well as other items in the department store. Despite there being some truth in claiming the fact that women did not choose to have periods and the inelasticity in its demand, whether tampons should be treated as a necessity like bread and butter is still debatable. In my opinion, singling out tampons as a necessity that shares an equal ground with food and drugs is quite ignorant of the bigger picture: what are the things that actually should be included within the category of “necessities” in the legal context?
It is worth noting that all hygienic products, tampons included, are within the diction of the sales tax under the spirit of the original 1949 grocery and medicine exemption where only basic unprocessed food and some medication are exempt from taxation. The inelasticity in demand of the product does not mean that the product is exempted from tax. Toilet paper is the best example: everybody uses toilet paper but it is still an item under the sales tax.
Raising awareness for exempting tax on tampons is quite necessary in my opinion, however, politicizing it as an issue that regards purely gender inequality is blatantly ignoring the specificity of the 1949 grocery and medicine exemption where inelastic hygienic products such as toilet paper are not included.
Some feminists argued against that narrative. In an online article by Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, she argued that “ Most disagreement comes down to this—the predictable question that (mostly) men ask: If other necessities are taxed—soap, Band-Aids, toilet paper—why do tampons deserve special treatment? Anyone who has ever had a period (mostly women) knows that one can make do without a bar of soap, that bandages can be improvised and that there’s toilet paper aplenty in public restrooms. Women who don’t have access to menstrual products are prone to reproductive infection, not to mention humiliation. Menstruation simply is different—there is no analogous hygiene need. Period.”
This argument, in my opinion, did raise a significant point in context, but was still tenuous in arguing on tampons’ position within the legal framework: Both toilet paper and tampons are hygienic products and are in nature inelastic in the realm of consumer demand. In my opinion, “the tampon” is a good subject matter to be thrown into the discussion, but how could it free itself from the legal framework that bound it with other hygienic products and claim that it’s distinguished enough to not being taxed?
Despite the appearance that the exemption in tampon tax may be the ideal solution for women, it seemed to me to be an ungrounded leap within the legislative process and not quite practical in helping women in need: how could the exemption of tampon tax help women who couldn’t even afford it in the first place?
Being more accessible, In my opinion, in this case, might be a better and more practical solution than anything tax-wise to those who desperately need it. Then, the process of expanding the items that belonged to the label of “necessities” could be brought to the table. To those who are more privileged, toilet paper could lead the way in being exempt from tax while tampons could potentially follow: as writer and activist Jennifer Weiss-Wolf suggested in an interview:
“I’m going to go off on a slight tangent here, but it’s important: Bathroom laws sound sort of silly — how much social change happens in bathrooms? Well, right now public bathrooms provide certain products and we treat that as very normal. We expect there to be toilet paper, hand soap, some way to dry our hands after we wash them, not because we were born feeling entitled to toilet paper, but because our laws made that the norm. Who decides that toilet paper is free, but tampons are not? And to all those people saying “who’s gonna fund this? Just carry your own tampon” it’s a fairly quick retort: “Yeah, well, what about all that government-funded toilet paper you’ve been wiping you’re a— with your whole life?”
While her claim was inaccurate in claiming that toilet paper had been ensured in written law, providing it was indeed ensured and included within the clauses under sanitary conditions that required employers to protect the health of the employees. In a number of legal literature: toilet seat covers, hand soap, and paper towels are mandatory in protecting the health of employees: It is highly likely that under the same legal framework, tampons could be potentially provided for free as well in workplace bathrooms.
I personally take a rather conservative approach towards the legal interpretation on the exemption of tampon tax where my scrutinization lies in that it follows the legal framework, and be treated the same as its counterparts such as toilet paper, other legislators clearly have a different point of view.
In 2016, New York City signed free tampons in public schools, jails, and shelters into city legislation. During an interview, Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed that,
“Students should be able to concentrate on their studies, New Yorkers in shelter should be able to focus on rebuilding their lives, and women in our Correction Department should be able to work toward rehabilitation and release without the indignity of inadequate access to tampons and pads, No young woman should face losing class time because she can’t afford or simply cannot access feminine hygiene products.”
While I applaud the legislative process and the fact that it pushed New York State to become one of the first few to pass legislation on exempting the so-called “tampon tax”, I wonder whether they would show the same courtesy to toilet paper. My question to those legislators would be: “If tampons are entitled to be exempt from sales tax, shouldn’t toilet paper and all other hygienic products that ensure one’s health and dignity be even more so?”
the Thoughtful Dot 