A proposal to eliminate sales tax on personal hygiene products like diapers and tampons was rejected Wednesday in a House Revenue and Taxation Committee.
The bill would have deducted the 4.7 percent sales tax currently imposed on most products in the state. It was expected to cost more than a million dollars in lost revenue. But Democratic State Representative and sponsor of House Bill 202, Susan Duckworth says it would have meant savings for people with incontinence, women who experience menstrual periods and parents buying diapers.
“Those things are not a luxury,” Duckworth says. “They are a necessity. And with prescriptions not being taxed, I believe these items should also be on that list.”
Republican Representative and committee chair Dan McCay says the necessity argument could potentially be made about other items as well.
“We have done a lot of work as a committee to remove exemptions, and make it so that the tax system is predictable and not have subjective variations on what the exemptions are and what they are not,” McCay says.
Democrats on the committee made the case that women disproportionately bear the burden of these expenses.
President Barack Obama spoke out on the issue recently in an interview, saying he had no idea why feminine hygiene products were taxed.
