Brown vetoes bills on diaper, tampon taxes

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed bills Tuesday that would have exempted diapers and tampon purchases from the state’s sales tax, saying the cumulative loss of revenue to the state from those and other tax breaks would be too significant.

In all, the governor vetoed six bills that would have created tax breaks or expanded existing ones.

“In total, these bills would reduce revenues by about $300 million through 2017-18,” Brown said in his veto message. “As I said last year, tax breaks are the same as new spending — they both cost the general fund money.”

AB1561 by Assemblywomen Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County), and Ling Ling Chang, R-Diamond Bar (Los Angeles County), would have eliminated state taxes on tampons and other menstrual hygiene products.

Garcia immediately responded to the veto

by saying Brown was “propping up the state budget on the backs of women.” She said California tax code already exempts health items and prescription medication. Menstrual products should be exempt, too, she said.

“Men purchase Viagra and they don’t get taxed,” Garcia said in a statement. “There is no other such tax that’s gender specific in the tax code. Women matter and we need to send that message to the governor.”

AB717 by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, would have temporarily exempted diapers from sales and use taxes in the state, which are a minimum of 7.5 percent of a purchase price. The Board of Equalization estimated the diaper exemption would have reduced state and local revenue by $35 million a year. Families could have saved up to $100 per child each year with the exemption.

“We knew from the beginning that making the case for addressing diaper need would be a long journey, and today’s disappointing setback just means we’ll be back to try again,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “We will continue working to achieve sales tax reform and bridge the diaper gap that forces too many of California’s working families to struggle.”

Other bills would have changed how alcohol fuels are taxed, extended a tax credit for a program in the Department of Insurance, exempted the sale of animal blood sold by nonprofit animal blood banks from sales taxes, created income tax exemptions for mortgage debt forgiveness, and allowed the Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum Education Foundation to exempt its purchase of a fully restored Shell Lockheed Vega piloted by Doolittle from state sales taxes.

Brown said bills that propose tax cuts or new spending should be part of state budget negotiations to fully consider the impact to California’s finances.

“This is even more important when the state’s budget remains precariously balanced,” Brown wrote.