What do Viagra, the San Diego Aerospace Museum, leases on television film tapes, and candy have in common? They are all exempt from California’s sales tax, based on the March 2018 “Sale and Use Taxes: Exemptions & Exclusions” document from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Museums are considered a “general public good” while candy and Viagra are categorized as “necessities of life.” These exemptions are for “provisions that exempt property necessary to the sustenance of life." About half of the human population for about half of their lives menstruate and need these products, but California has not recognized them as “necessities of life,” and they are not exempt from the sales tax.
The sales tax, aka luxury tax, of menstrual products in the U.S.
and around the world has been coined as the “tampon tax.” In 2016 Assemblymember
Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) led Assembly Bill 1561 to eliminate sales tax,
across California, on menstrual products. It passed unanimously in the State
Senate and Assembly, but at the last step it was vetoed by former governor
Jerry Brown. His response was that California needed the $20 million in revenue.
Nancy McFadden, Brown's executive secretary at the time, claimed the issue's
failure was one of bad timing; it should have been addressed during state
budget deliberations.
Currently five states have no sales tax: Oregon, Alaska, Montana,
New Hampshire, and Delaware. Nine states have specifically exempted sales tax
on menstrual products: Minnesota, Illinois, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania,
New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey; four of these states only
made the change within the past couple of years. This year, Assemblymember
Garcia has introduced a new bill AB 31to eliminate sales tax on all menstrual
products from state and local taxes. It is essentially identical to the AB 1561
bill and has large support with 25 co-authors from the state Assembly and 11
from the Senate.