Texas Ends Sales Tax on Menstrual Products, Baby Items

A new law went into effect in Texas on Friday, ending the sales tax on feminine hygiene products and family care items.

Some items that no longer have a sales tax include tampons, menstrual pads, and menstrual cups, as well as diapers, baby bottles, baby wipes, maternity clothing, and breast milk pump products, Good Morning America reported.

The bill, S.B. 379, was signed into law by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in June. Texas Republican State Sen. Joan Huffman sponsored the bill, which had bipartisan support. 

“Every woman knows that these products are not optional,” Huffman said in a statement last year. “They are essential to our health and well-being and should be tax exempt.”

Texas is one of nearly two dozen states that have eliminated a sales tax on diapers, according to the National Diaper Bank Network, a nonprofit organization.

“Currently, over one dozen states still charge sales tax on menstrual products, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies, a nonprofit organization that works to end period poverty,” the report states. 

Advocates for “menstrual equity” say the lack of access to menstrual products “hurts women economically because it costs them money for products and may keep them from attending jobs and school,” according to the report. Poor menstrual hygiene can also lead to health risks for women, including reproductive issues and urinary tract infections. 

“A 2019 survey of low-income women in St. Louis, Missouri, found nearly two-thirds couldn’t afford menstrual hygiene products in the past year, and more than 1 in 5 said they had the same problem every month,” the report states. “The women said they instead had to use cloth, rags, tissues, toilet paper and sometimes diapers or paper towels, according to the report published in the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.”