“Texas can absorb this lost revenue easily, but for countless Texas women, this will mean significant savings in their personal budgets over time,” Hegar stated.
On Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott signaled assist for a years-long name by girls’s well being care advocates to take away taxes on menstrual merchandise like like tampons, sanitary pads and pantyliners. His assertion comes after Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar and state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, voiced their assist from eliminating the “tampon tax” on Thursday.
Hegar and Huffman stated they’d assist efforts in subsequent 12 months’s legislative session to make such merchandise nontaxable.
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Other well being care requirements, reminiscent of drugs and bandages, are exempt from sales tax in Texas. Advocates have called for the repeal of the tax, arguing that menstrual merchandise needs to be categorized as “wound care dressings,” which stop bacterial infections and “maintain a moist or dry wound environment.” Given that wound dressings like Band-Aids are exempt from gross sales tax, supporters of repealing the gross sales tax on menstrual merchandise argue that taxing them discriminates on the premise of intercourse.
Menstrual merchandise are already tax-free in 24 states. Texas is amongst these states the place customers nonetheless pay tax on these merchandise.
Previous makes an attempt to repeal the gross sales tax in Texas have failed and can seemingly face extra hurdles throughout subsequent 12 months’s legislative session. Proposals to remove the gross sales tax on menstrual merchandise, spearheaded by state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, have come earlier than the legislature every session since 2017. None of these payments have made it to the governor’s desk.
If subsequent session’s laws reaches Abbott’s desk, he would assist eliminating the tax.
“Governor Abbott fully supports exempting feminine hygiene products from state and local sales tax,” Renae Eze, a spokesperson for the governor, informed The Texas Tribune in a press release on Friday. “These are essential products for women’s health and quality of life, and the Governor looks forward to working with the legislature in the next session to remove this tax burden on Texas women.”
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But Huffman’s assist of the measure because the chair of the Senate Finance Committee —that department’s finances chief — is notable. The 2017 invoice to take away the female hygiene tax died in that committee.
“Every woman knows that these products are not optional. They are essential to our health and well-being and should be tax-exempt,” she stated in a press launch Thursday saying her assist.
Hegar pointed to Texas’ robust financial system and state revenues in explaining his assist for the tax repeal. Given rising costs and inflation, Hegar stated the chance to exempt these merchandise from taxation is a important want for Texans.
“Texas can absorb this lost revenue easily, but for countless Texas women, this will mean significant savings in their personal budgets over time,” Hegar stated in a press launch. “This is a small amount of money relative to the overall revenue outlook for Texas.”
Hegar’s newest income estimate for the following two years, starting mid-July, tasks Texas will generate $27 billion. The gross sales tax income on menstrual provides over the following two years would symbolize about 0.1% of that quantity.
In Texas and throughout the nation, establishments are working to enhance higher entry to menstrual merchandise. Over the summer time, the Austin Independent School District spent over $150,000 to offer free menstrual merchandise to college students in bogs.
This story was initially printed by The Texas Tribune.
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