‘Tampon tax’ ban gains momentum
After years of GOP resistance, 2023 sees bipartisan support
Although Democrat-led efforts to pass a sales tax exemption for menstrual products have stalled each session since 2017, this year there is widespread bipartisan support — including among Gov. Greg Abbott and other key Republican lawmakers.
Unsaid but nonetheless relevant to the sudden momentum for the legislation is the GOP’S precarious position among women nationally since last summer’s repeal of federal protections for abortion rights.
Many other medical products, including gauze and adhesive bandages, are already exempt from Texas sales taxes.
The comptroller’s office estimates that the state collects $28.6 million annually in sales tax revenue from tampons, pads and other feminine hygiene products. Last session, similar efforts didn’t pass either chamber, although the policy received a thumbs-up from a key House committee, while it stalled out completely before the influential Senate Finance Committee.
This time around, Sen. Joan Huffman — a Houston Republican and chair of the committee that blocked the bill in 2021 — is spearheading the Senate’s effort to pass it.
“Every woman knows that these products are not optional. They are essential to our health and well-being and should be tax exempt,” she said in a statement earlier this year. “There are 24 other states that already exempt tampons and other feminine hygiene products and my goal this session is to have Texas be the 25th, and the catalyst for every other state to follow suit.”
In the last year, the three most influential political leaders in the state have announced their support for the policy. Abbott said he’d sign a bill repealing the tampon tax last summer, while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told the Fort Worth Star-telegram that he would support Huffman’s efforts in the state Senate.
Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan added it to his list of legislative priorities, adding that “it is essential that the Texas House makes meaningful progress this year on better supporting mothers and children in the state.”
Democrats had successful national elections in 2018 and 2020 in large part because of increased support among women, particularly suburban women, and Republicans last year had hoped to win back some of those voters.
Polling earlier in the year suggested the GOP was making inroads, but then the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and states around the country moved to restrict abortion more aggressively than anytime in the last 50 years.
While Republicans were broadly expected to win a majority in the U.S. House and Senate in last year’s midterms, they won only a very narrow advantage in the House and actually lost a seat in the Senate.
“Women in America made their voices heard, man,” President Joe Biden said in a victory lap speech shortly after the election. “Y’all showed up and beat the hell out of them.”