Where tampons, pads and other period products are taxed: map
Many states have eliminated sales tax on tampons, pads and other period products, but 21 still impose them. A map shows which states have a so-called tampon tax.
Over a lifetime, period products in the U.S. cost a total of around $6,000 per person, according to research published in 2021 — and that’s before tax.
In 21 states, a sales tax of between 4% and 7% applies to items like pads and tampons, making them more costly, data from the Alliance for Period Supplies show.
Most states don’t tax certain essential goods, such as grocery store produce, canned food and prescription medicines. But in states with a "tampon tax" — a term that usually applies to tampons plus many other menstrual care products — these products are considered "luxury items." (Broader still is the so-called pink tax, which isn’t an actual tax and refers to instances in which items marketed toward women, such as razors, deodorants and shampoo, cost more than equivalent products marketed toward men.)
Over the last four decades, states with sales tax have been enacting laws that eliminate such taxes on menstrual products. Minnesota was the first to do so in 1981, and 23 others have followed suit, along with Washington, D.C.
Texas was the most recent: Since September, there has been no state sales tax on period products there. In Kentucky, two bills that would waive its tampon tax — one Republican-sponsored and the other Democrat-sponsored — were introduced last week.
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