Tampons via Shutterstock
Supporters of the removal of the so-called “tampon tax” are also particularly angry because they perceive those responsible for imposing the tax in the first place — male lawmakers — have little sympathy with the angst women have to endure during every monthly menstrual cycle.
“Obviously the tax was imposed by men who have no clue what it’s like to have to deal with that function of being a female," said Claudio Sobol of Burbank, speaking with ABC news affiliate KABC-TV. "If men had to deal with that aspect of life, they would never put a tax on those items.”
Even the White House has weighed in. "I think it’s pretty sensible for women ... ," said President Obama, when asked in January about the issue, "to work to get those taxes removed.”
(Clearly the term "tax" is being applied somewhat liberally, since there is no additional cost currently placed on these items over and above California's blanket sales tax for general consumer goods.) A bill has been drafted; lawmakers in Sacramento have scheduled a vote for May 9.
If passed, the expected savings calculated by the group are to be approximately $1 per month, per woman.
The movement to eliminate the tax is also championed by California assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, who refers to the tax as yet another example of what she calls "gender injustice."
According the Washington Post, Garcia’s office put out a statement insisting that these products “are a basic necessity that should not be taxed and that it’s especially unjust because the tax impacts women who are at the most economically disadvantaged.”
Only five states — New Jersey, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Massachusetts — do not impose a sales tax on feminine products.
The debate apparently centers on the word "essential," in that these are must-have items. That said, Kim Reuben, a state and local public financing senior fellow at the Urban Institute, in speaking with CNN responds: "We tax toilet paper. We tax soap. We tax most things. I don't think this is a plot to burden women."