Letter of the Week: Repeal the ‘tampon tax’

Sales tax fairness

All menstrual hygiene products are considered non-essential items or luxuries in most states. The cost of a product that half the world’s population needs multiple times a day, every month, for about 30 years, is simply too much.

These products should not be taxed, because the “time of the month” isn’t a luxury, and these taxes are unfair and discriminatory for women.

Access to tampons and pads for low-income women is a real problem. Food stamps don’t cover feminine-hygiene products, so some women resort to selling their food stamps to pay for these “luxuries.”

Women, who already make less money than men on average, might pay a premium for items marketed to them without being aware of this pink tax.

The average woman spends around $18,000 in her lifetime for tampons, pads, underwear, heat pads, Midol and birth control. These products are taxed as “luxuries.”

Being a young woman, I don’t appreciate having to spend an extra 8.85 percent sales tax here in Overland Park on items that I desperately need every month.

Grace Armenta of Overland Park is a senior at Shawnee Mission West High School. She plans to go to Wichita State University in the fall. She is undecided about a major. Her parents are Ralph and Gail Armenta. She has four sisters. Grace is a photojournalist for her school newspaper, yearbook and website.

This story was originally published May 1, 2016 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Letter of the Week: Repeal the ‘tampon tax’."