NC lawmakers, students call for end to ‘tampon tax,’ saying it hurts poor families
Some North Carolina lawmakers and students want to end the state tax on menstrual products and also ensure that schools can provide those feminine hygiene items to their students.
Legislation filed last week in the state House and Senate would exempt tampons and other menstrual products from the state sales tax. The “Menstrual Equity for All” legislation would also make permanent a grant program that has allowed some public schools to request state funds to provide free menstrual products for their students.
“Eliminating the tampon tax here in North Carolina is just one small way we can ensure no person is limited by something as normal as their period,” Rep. Julie von Haefen, a Wake County Democrat, said at a news conference Tuesday.
The legislation only has Democratic sponsorship. But Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday they hope the Republican majority will act on the bill during this year’s legislative session.
The legislation comes as the issue of “period poverty” is becoming more of a national issue. It’s “defined as a lack of access to sanitary products, toilets, menstrual hygiene education, hand washing facilities, and, or, waste management,” the American Medical Women’s Association says.
Of the 50 states, 26 still charge a tampon tax, according to Period Law, a group that fights for menstrual equity.
California, New York, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Virginia have passed legislation requiring that schools provide free menstrual products to students, according to the group Free the Tampons, McClatchy News reported.
In January, N.C. State University announced its Menstrual Equity Initiative, a one-year pilot program to provide free menstrual products in select restrooms on campus.
NC considers tampons a ‘luxury’
The students and lawmakers at Tuesday’s news conference said the state can go a long way toward helping working-class families by ending the sales taxes on menstrual products.
“North Carolina currently places a tax on period products due to them being deemed as ‘luxury items,’” said Prerna Dash, a senior at Green Hope High School in Cary and founder of Period @ Cary, which works to end period poverty. “I can tell you firsthand, periods are anything but luxurious.”
Layla Saliba, president of the We Bleed Red student-group at N.C. State, said women spend on average $13.25 on menstrual products a month. She said families can spend $40 to $50 per month.
Von Haefen, one of the primary sponsors of the legislation, said the state only generates $5.5 million a year in sales tax revenue on menstrual hygiene products. She said it would be a “drop in the bucket” financially to stop taxing them.
Under the legislation, items such as tampons, panty liners, menstrual cups and sanitary napkins would be exempted from state taxation.
“They were expensive before inflation so this is a perfect time to say that we no longer want to tax those products,” said Sen. Natalie Murdock, a Durham Democrat and a primary sponsor of the legislation. “These provisions would make a world of difference for low-income families and everyone that is in need of financial relief.”
‘Basic human right’
The state budget that was adopted in November included $250,000 in one-time money for school districts and charter schools to apply for grants to purchase feminine hygiene products.
The legislation would make the grants a recurring budget item and provide $500,000 for the program. Supporters say that providing free menstrual products will help keep students in school who stay home because they don’t have those items.
Lawmakers pointed to the popularity of the grant program. The demand for the grants was so popular that the state Department of Public Instruction ran out of the $250,000 in less than one week. DPI only had enough money to fund 66 of the 134 applications, according to a state report.
“Some individual schools try to buy these items, and a lot of teachers spend out of pocket to help students,” Johnston County schools wrote in its successful request to receive a $5,000 grant. “This grant, if funded, would be a tremendous boost in our effort to get our learners’ basic needs met so that they can better focus on academics.”
Emerson Phillips is a leader of Cary High School’s IDEA club, which worked with the PTA to place free menstrual products in school restrooms. But Phillips said relying on donations is not sustainable in the long term so state funding is needed.
“No student should be forced to choose between period products and other necessities such as food,” Phillips said “No student should be forced to miss valuable instructional time because of their period.
“Our students in North Carolina deserve the basic human right to free menstrual products, and we implore you to make this goal a reality.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 7:30 AM.
