Tax-Free Tampons Sidelined for Local Sales Tax

Legislation to abolish state taxes on tampons in California has been pulled from consideration in response to efforts to ensure that the feminine products could still be taxed locally.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 9, was sponsored by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens). She says she has already agreed to make one substantive change to her bill and does plan on making any more.

According to the Sacramento Bee, the push to allow local governments to continue taxing tampons came from Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles). Ridley-Thomas chairs the Assembly Tax and Revenue Committee and would not move forward with the bill unless local governments retained powers of taxation.

Removing taxes on tampons is expected to “reduce state and local revenues by $22 million per year,” the Bee reports.

On January 6, 2016, Breitbart News reported on Garcia’s first iteration of the tax-free tampon bill. She introduced it by pointing out that California women spend $20 million on feminine products. The UK Independent quoted her as saying, “This is not insignificant to women, especially poor women on a tight budget who struggle to pay for basic necessities like a box of tampons or pads every month for their adult life. If we can’t make them free we should at least make them more affordable.”

The text of Garcia’s 2016 bill, AB 1561, said:

This bill would exempt from those taxes the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, sanitary napkins and tampons … Notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made by this act and the state shall not reimburse any local agency for any sales and use tax revenues lost by it under this act.

The bill passed in the legislature but was vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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