PRETTIER THAN PINK NEHA ALI
Imagine a world where every time a man bought a razor, it was taxed. Sometimes, men would pay more for their razors; other times, they would not pay for their razors at all. In such an event, a razor tax would prevent many men from performing daily tasks, like being presentable at work. You could then make an argument that razors are necessary for men, and that there shouldn’t be an additional tax on this product. Unfortunately, many retailers wouldn’t care. They would tell these men that they need to deal with the consequences of not having razors when they need them. Welcome to the world of the period tax for people who menstruate. When the Constitution of the United States was written, it held that “all men were created equal.” The document purposefully left out women, and the U.S. government carries out this tradition nearly 250 years later. A prime example of this is the period tax. The period tax – also known as the pink tax – is the revenue a state, county, or local government collects through the purchase of menstrual products.
exempt food from the general state tax. Access to menstrual care is just as important as access to food and water, yet an estimated one-in-four women already cannot afford menstrual products, which is only further exacerbated by the period tax. A nasty war has been waged. Good thing we’re nasty women. In 1981, women in Minnesota worked with their State Department of Health to exempt all health products –including pads and tampons – from the state sales tax. They were the first state to do so. Since thewn, states like Florida and New York have followed suit, showing that the war against menstrual health is more than a Democrat versus Republican issue - it has bipartisan support. So why do states like Texas and Arizona hold onto this tax? It comes back to what states care about most - money. By labeling pads and tampons as luxury goods instead of necessary items, states collect an average of $1,773 from the average person over their lifetime. When New York state eliminated its “pink” tax, it expected to lose $14 million annually.
For states with even larger populations, Only 23 states exempt their residents this could amount to more than $50 from such taxes; by contrast, 33 states million annually — a major source 14 | 11 SECONDS MAGAZINE
