Tampon Tax: A Necessity For Women

Tampons, pads and other feminine hygiene products are a necessity for women. These products help control a woman's monthly visitor. These products prices range from $2.69 to $18.99. For a women, on average, her period will last about a week. If she chooses to change her pad or tampon, every eight hours for seven days, she uses about twenty-one pads or tampons. This doesn’t include her “heavy flow” when she needs to change them every four hours or less. There are more important items that are taxed other than these products. Feminine hygiene products shouldn’t be taxed because women have no choice but to buy these products, the products tax is too high and many states are eliminating the tax already. Women have no choice but to buy feminine hygiene products every month. Jeanne Sahadi, author of “ Is the ‘Tampon Tax’ unfair to Women,” argues that

“On average according to [Larimer], women in California pay about $7 per month for 40 years of tampons and sanitary napkins” (Larimer 1). Over the years, paying for these products add up. Jordan Gass-Poore, author of “Citing Gender Bias, State Lawmakers Move to Eliminate ‘Tampon Tax,” argues that the tampon tax exist because of gender bias lawmakers. One of the reasons why these products are taxed is because they aren’t intended to be used internally or externally, or for diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or to prevent illness or diseases (Gass-Poore 1). This tax is making periods sound like an illness that all women have instead of a natural cycle that happens to most women. According to Mary Bowerman, author of “The ‘Tampon Tax’ and what it Means for You,” this tax on feminine products generates about $20 million a year. Eliminating this tax would save about $10 millions a year (Bowerman 1). Without the tax or a lowered tax, buyers of these products could be saving so much money. Because the tax is too high, many states are already eliminating the tax on these