Ashley Veneto: Feminine Hygiene Products - A Necessity or a Luxury?

What does $0.42 mean to you For some 42 cents,

maybe the amount of spare change line in their car

cup holders.

But for others it may be the difference between a

hot meal and an empty stomach, Although $0.42 may seem

like a small amount on the outside.

The value that $42 holds in terms of gender equity

is enormous in the US.

Today there are over 1000 health and personal care items

that are not subject to sales tax.

This includes Viagra, anti dandruff, shampoo, condoms and chapstick.

So what's missing from this list?

Tampons? Although 98% of women in America use a combination

of both tampons and pads on a monthly basis, feminine

hygiene products are currently being taxed as luxury products in

30 U.

S. States.

My name is Ashley veneto and for the past year

I have been researching the tampon tax, a term used

to describe the government's tax on feminine hygiene products, which

is primarily tampons and Pats.

I drove my research by pursuing the essential question what

long term benefits could be garnered by sheltering feminine hygiene

products from sales tax.

And furthermore, how we doing so address gender equity.

In order to understand the tampon tax, it is important

to first understand the basics of sales tax policies in

the United States.

In short, sales tax is a percentage of the sale

price of an item that is then added to the

total price of that item and collected tax.

Money is basically used to pay for state and local

budget items, including roads, schools et cetera, and each state

individually makes its own sales tax laws and most um,

products that are tangible are taxable.

However, there is an exception.

Various necessities are exempt from sales taxes in the US,

um, to protect low income consumers from essentially paying taxes

on products that they must purchase in order to survive

in life, a necessity is defined as something that is

required or indispensable.

A woman cannot ignore her bodily function of menstruation, which

comes at purchasing feminine hygiene products at a significant price

that quickly adds up each month.

The tampon tax most greatly affects women already on the

bottom half of the gender wage gap and especially hurts

those on a tight budget.

Tampons are purchased when the economy is at its best

and when the economy is at its worst, um an

essential product that supports feminine hygiene States collectively profit profit

upwards of $150 million $20 million dollars annually on the

purchase of feminine hygiene products.

Remember that 42 cents that I was talking about earlier,

Let's take a look at how the tampon tax greatly

impacts the wallets of women buying tampons in those 30

tampon tax present states The average cost of a box

of tampons is $7.

Massachusetts is a tampon tax free state.

Therefore the cost of a box of tampons is $7.

South Carolina, however, is not tampon tax rate.

Since the average sales tax in South Carolina is 6%,

the cost of that same box of tampons is $7.42.42

more. It has been argued that if the government were

to require that only men or only woman had to

pay a hefty tax um each month solely because of

their sex, it would be an unconstitutional denial of equal

protection under the 14th amendment of the US.

Constitution. Considering that other products, the government deems necessities.

For example, condoms.

Many believe that the tampon tax is an attack on

the progression of gender equity.

On the flip side, people that support the tampon tax

basically argue that demolishing the tax will negatively impact the

economy. Banning the tampon tax will inevitably inevitability inevitably result

in states generating less revenue for the government taxing product.

Regardless of whether or not as a necessity results in

the lowest rate for that product possible.

And removing tampons from sales tax will essentially violate the

idea of the tax foundation when a single item is

removed from sales tax, other products are harmed and put

at risk for higher sales taxes themselves.

So over the years there has been legislation introduced in

regards the tampon tax.

For example, on the first day of California's 2016 legislative

session, um an assembly woman by the name of Cristina

Garcia announced assembly Bill 15 61 and this bill proposed

an end to the tampon tax adding tampons and sanitary

napkins to the list of products that are exempt from

sales tax on in the state of California.

And many efforts have been made in the United States

and around the world regarding the tampon tax.

For example, on this past november of 2020 Scotland became

the first country to allow free and universal access to

menstrual products.

The Scottish parliament basically voted in favor of the period

products bill um and period products there are now available

um and accessible in public buildings including schools, universities, workplaces

across Scotland.

In the United States, various protests, campaigns and organizations have

risen in hopes to raise awareness over the injustice of

the tampon tax.

For example, the owner of this company named Box um

which is a wholesale retail delivery company has changed their

pricing so that customers pay equal prices for equal products

regardless of gender.

For example, a men's deodorant.

Any women's deodorant cost the same.

The woman's decoder does not cost more, and they also

reduce their list price on feminine hygiene products in states

where they are taxed to compensate for the tampon tax.

Another example is the tax rate period campaign, which consists

of a team of lawyers who are fighting um for

gender equity and are demanding for period products to be

tax free.

So the goal of my primary research was to gain

a better understanding of how women view the tampon tax

and to document an explicit example of the price of

the same box of tampons in two different states with

contrasting tampon tax laws, which is what I talked about

earlier, um But basically in order to come closer to

answering my essential question, I collected a variety of data

utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Um I began by conducting a survey which targeted um

women specifically women who menstruate and a total of 61

woman between the ages of 13 and 32 part in

my survey.

So the survey first revealed that 91.8% of participants um

regularly get a period.

The next question I asked um was if the respondents

used a combination of pads and tampons went on their

periods. And the survey revealed that yes, 100% of participants

use pads and tampons, but on their periods and this

it can be justified that this response indicates that tampons

pads are necessities when women are menstruating.

Um In fact, 100% of the surveyors agreed that feminine

hygiene products are necessities when they are on their periods.

And so following this question, participants were asked about their

financial stake in the purchase of feminine hygiene products.

Um, Basically the survey revealed that 6.6% of participants purchase

feminine hygiene products on their own.

Um, 77% of participants rely on their parents to purchase

feminine hygiene products for them.

And 16.4%, participants basically experience in Mexico.

I'm prior to taking this survey, only 42.6% of participants

knew what the tampon tax was, um, revealing that the

remaining 57.4% of participants had either never heard of the

tampon tax or had only vaguely heard of the term

before. And for the final question, I pose the statement.

Um, I basically asked agree or disagree with the following

statement. If the government were to significantly attacks a person

solely based on their sex, it would be considered a

form of sex based discrimination.

And 95.1% of participants agreed to the statement, which was

very telling in my research.

Looking into the future, I hold much hope that the

tam attacks will soon cease to reinforce the barrier that

generates the lack of gender equity that is currently president

in our country and society.

Um far too many women and people in general are

not aware of the tampon tax and its impact on

the woman is subject to it.

And I am so grateful I've had the opportunity to

make others interested in it, or at the very least

aware of the tampon tax and um doing so through

my primary and secondary research, my whole project as a

whole. I'm circling back to my central question.

I believe that feminine hygiene products aren't a necessity that

every woman should have um tax free access to abolishing

the tampon tax from sales tax would result in a

more equal and gender equity driven, um, sales tax system

that would work to benefit all people, regardless of gender.

So next time that you notice 42 cents lying around,

try to think of the value that that $0.42 holds.

Thank you.

Ashley Veneto: Feminine Hygiene Products - A Necessity or a Luxury?

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