Ohio, Stop Taxing Periods!
Just last month, a couple representatives and I from our PERIOD Chapter at Ohio State had the opportunity to speak with House Representative Brigid Kelly about potentially working together to pass House Bill 61, focused on eliminating the luxury tax placed on menstrual products in Ohio.
It made quite the statement walking into the House of Representatives with two of my male-identifying non-menstruator leaders from PERIOD, but it sent an important message; eliminating the luxury tax placed on menstrual products is our tangible way of fighting for gender equality. Below are some background knoweledge on the luxury tax placed on menstrual products:
1. This truly is the most gendered and outdated law; there is a 5.75% sales tax on all sales products in Ohio; however, products identified as medical necessities and grocery items are exempted from this sales tax. It is unfortunate that menstrual products are not identified as medical necessities in the state of Ohio, despite the fact over half of the population menstruates and the average menstruator uses menstrual products for an average of 40 years of their lives! In contrast, we examined how many exclusively-used by men’s products in Ohio such as Viagra, Rogaine, Penile Pumps, and Suspensories all have NO sales tax due to their identification as “medical necessities” in Ohio! Why are menstrual products, which are much more widely and consistently used by the population, taxed when over half of the population has no choice but to buy them
2. Contrary to what you may think, this is not only a women’s issue. This is a bipartisan issue. Upon examining HB61, we found that many of the co-sponsors of the bill were male and female, supported by both Democrats and Republicans!
3. From analyzing the arguments put forth by proponents and Interest Parties of HB61 we learned how many different issues stem from period poverty. For instance, period poverty leaves menstruators more susceptible to health issues such as Toxic Shock Syndrome due to lack of adequate access to menstrual hygiene products, resulting in the wearing of menstrual hygiene products for over the 6–8 hours recommendation.Therefore, to tackle this and allow menstruators to live their healthiest lives, we have to take steps to make them more affordable and accessible to menstruators. Similarly, we learned how the tax also places unwarranted pressure on members in the LGBTQ community, a strong ally of ours.
We walked into our meeting with Representative Brigid Kelly well prepared and established early on that we were not there to merely “receive help,” but we were determined to help her in passing the bill to eliminate the luxury tax placed on menstrual products through utilizing our resources! Together, we developed a plan to create a petition in conjunction with the National Non-Profit PERIOD and to garner support for it through student mobilization and activism. Eventually, after proving the successful implementation of this policy on campus, we hope to testify in front of assembly members regarding the Tampon Tax. We are currently looking to collaborate with student activists and leaders of the menstrual movement in various high schools, middle schools and universities across Ohio!
Representative Brigid Kelly remarked how on the senate floor, the faces of many of her male identifying colleagues turned red when the word “tampon” was even mentioned, yet my male colleagues spoke maturely, passionately and confidently about why removing this luxury tax is truly the gateway to Gender Equality. Our PERIOD Chapter at The Ohio State University is committed to involving both menstruators and non-menstruators! The #periodproud challenge symbolizes the de-stigmatizing of menstruation and that afternoon during our meeting I truly realized the wider implications about not talking about periods. The stigma fuels the issue of period poverty.
A week after our meeting with Representative Brigid Kelly, we officially launched our petition in conjunction with PERIOD (the National Non-profit) on October 1st! Now, we are nearing 1500 signatures, but we need your help in spreading the word!
Some Reasons for Signing (anonymous):
“I have 6 sisters, so that’s the reason I’m signing.”
“My mom makes her own menstrual products at home to save money, so I’m signing this for her.”
“I was not aware of this issue before, but I don’t believe it is fair to tax menstrual products like they are not medical necessities.”
It was inspiring to hear about how many people identified with the cause (irrespective of whether they menstruated themselves), and our amazing team achieved over 400 signatures in one tabling session!
SIGN & SHARE our petition: https://www.change.org/p/governor-of-ohio-end-the-tampon-tax-in-ohio
Thank you for joining us in the fight to end period poverty in Ohio.
