Tax-Free Diapers And Tampons For Moms? What California Wants

California lawmakers Thursday pushed a bill to strip sales taxes on diapers and tampons, referring to the products as medical necessities akin to groceries and prescriptions drugs, which aren’t taxed.

The bill would pay for the potential tax break by increasing taxes on hard liquor, one of its sponsors Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia told the Los Angeles Times Thursday.

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“It’s time to tax liquor before ladies,” Garcia, a Democrat, said. “There is no happy hour for menstruation. Our tax code needs to reflect the fact that it’s not OK to tax women for being born women.”

The potential measure, Assembly Bill 479, represents Garcia’s second attempt to exempt diapers and tampons from sales tax. Though a similar bill was approved unanimously by the Legislature in 2016, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the measure because he said it would be too costly.

In response to the governor’s decision last year, lawmakers reportedly proposed a tax increase of $1.20 per gallon of hard liquor in an attempt to generate the $72 million expected to be lost if Assembly Bill 479 is enacted.

The tax on hard liquor would be imposed on distributors when they buy it from manufacturers; that tax hasn’t been raised in the state since 1991.

Another sponsor of the measure, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, a Democrat, said at a press conference Thursday she believes the tax will monetarily equate to “2 cents per hard alcoholic drink” if the distributors choose to pass the cost on to consumers.

Beer and wine would not be included in the measure, the Sacramento Bee reported Thursday.

Because a tax increase is involved, the bill requires a two-thirds vote in both the state Assembly and Senate to pass.

“I challenge anyone, Democrat or Republican, who wants to say it’s not worth 2 cents per hard alcoholic drink to pay for these very basic necessities,” Gonzalez Fletcher said, adding the tax exemption would result in women and families saving $100 on diapers and feminine health products annually.

Similar bills with sales tax exceptions on diapers and tampons have been introduced in both Florida and Washington, D.C. Opponents of the tax note Viagra is tax-exempt, reducing tax revenue significantly, the Washington Post reported Nov. 17, 2016.