(WWL.com)
A New Orleans Senator has pre-filed a bill for the upcoming session that would exempt feminine products and diapers from state sales tax. Currently food, residential utilities, and prescription drugs are exempted, and Louisiana Budget Project Executive Director Jan Moller says diapers and feminine products are no less mandatory to everyday life for a majority of the population.
“The state of Louisiana, in the constitution, realizes the basic necessities that people have to use should not be subject to the state sales tax.”
That New Orleans Senator is JP Morrell.
Women’s advocates have long pointed out that women have to pay more for basic expenses, a phenomenon known as the “Pink Tax”. Moller says exempting those items from tax would help close that gap, even if it comes with a price tag and subsequent budget hit.
“If we are going to add to that, then I thinks this moves our tax policy in the right direction. You don’t want to add to many exemptions or breaks, but this is one of those cases that is an exception that proves the rule.”
Advocates says the “Pink Tax” can be demonstrated by comparing the cost of similar goods for men and women, such as deodorant. They’ve noted that the equivalent women’s good tends to be marked up by as much as 13 percent, per NPR.
Last year legislation promoting equal pay for women failed to cross the finish line in a bitterly divided session, but Moller says this type of legislation is noticeably different, and anyone who votes against it could face a rebuke just half a year later at the ballot box.
“More than half of Louisiana’s population are women, and there a lot of parents of young children, so if I was a politician running for reelection, I would not want to be caught voting against a bill that would help so many people, at a relatively small cost.”