Garcia introduces tampon tax repeal for third time

DOWNEY – A bill to repeal the tax charged on menstrual health products was reintroduced Monday shortly after Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia was sworn in for her fourth term representing the 58th Assembly District.

The bill is the third attempt by Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) to create a gender neutral tax code.

In 2016, the bill (AB 1561) passed through the legislature nearly unanimously only to be vetoed by Governor Brown who cited a resulting loss of funds if the tax was removed. In 2017 the bill was held in Assembly Appropriations.

“When I originally introduced this bill it started a national movement to rectify the discriminatory taxation of menstrual products. California was leading the charge,” said Garcia. “Today, the most progressive state in the union is behind the curve in providing a gender neutral tax code that doesn’t profit off of a woman’s basic biological functions. I’m hopeful that governor-elect Newsom’s sense of equality will prevail over his predecessor’s.”

Currently, women in California still pay over $20 million annually in taxes on tampons, sanitary napkins, and menstrual cups paying on average $7 a month for forty years of their lives. California law exempts health items like walkers, medical identification tags, and prescription medication, including Viagra.

Menstrual health products are not tax exempt in California even though they are deemed medical necessities by the Federal Drug Administration.

The bill will move forward in 2019 as soon as session convenes on January 7 and is assigned its committee hearings. Garcia has already had preliminary discussions with incoming Governor Newsom to highlight in inequities the tax imposes.

At least 10 states exempt menstrual health products from sales tax. Meanwhile, in California the tax remains and a case is pending before the California Superior Court.

That case claims the state is in violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause on the basis that tampons and sanitary napkins are not luxuries, but basic medical necessities.

In 2017, the self-proclaimed Tampon Queen was successful in expanding access to menstrual health products with the passage of AB 10. That bill provides free menstrual health products in low income school bathrooms.

“The bottom line is we cannot balance the budget on a person’s uterus,” concluded Garcia. “Every month, for 40 years of our lives, we are being taxed for being born with a uterus. Every month of our adult life we are taxed for our biology. Every month we are told our periods are a luxury, while also being told they are something to be ashamed and we must hide.

“I respect the need for California to be fiscally sound, but the state budget should not be balanced by a tax of a person’s uterus. The same goes for local governments; our tax codes should be gender neutral,” said Garcia.