NY State Lawmakers May Remove…the ‘Tampon Tax’

Have you even HEARD of the "tampon tax"?!

Good, that makes two of us.

I guess I never really THOUGHT about it, but yes, tampons and other feminine-hygeine products are indeed subject to state tax.

New York State is infamous for our heavy flow of tax dollars. What's sure to make lawmakers cramp up (you know, some people just don't like talking about the topic at all), the tampon tax is being brought to the floor soon with a vote to eliminate the 4 percent state tax.

They recently tried it in Salt Lake City. It failed to pass at voting time of the month. Could it have something to do with the fact that only MEN were debating the issue?

According to Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, five states already have a tax-exemption for such products, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts.  Still five OTHER states don't have the state sales tax bloat at all.

Senator Sue Serino, R-Hyde Park, Dutchess County, introduced it in the Senate on Wednesday.  It's gotten some traction too; Serino is a member of the Senate's Republican majority, which controls what bills actually come to the floor for a vote.

Serino says:

Essential products should be exempt from sales and use tax and to consider tampons and sanitary napkins non-essential is utterly absurd.

I agree. Period.