The Vermont Senate voted unanimously Friday to exempt menstrual products from the state sales tax.
The bill, S.53, would remove the tax on products including tampons, panty liners, menstrual cups, which are currently subject to Vermont’s 6% sales tax, and an additional 1% local option tax in some communities.
The bill now moves to the House.
Vermont and Maine are the only nearby states that currently tax menstrual products, according to Sen. Chris Pearson, P/D-Chittenden, a sponsor of the legislation.
Speaking during a virtual session of the Vermont Senate on Friday, Pearson said the state applies sales tax “differently to all sorts of different products.” Food isn’t taxed, while toilet paper is, he said. Diapers aren’t taxed, but menstrual products are.
“When we look at the list and these distinctions, it becomes clear that gender equity leaps out when we’re talking about menstrual products,” Pearson said. “That’s what we’re correcting today.”
Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, who also sponsored the bill, urged senators to support the legislation as “a means toward gender equity.”
“As we all know, women in Vermont, on average, make 87 cents to the dollar that men make and yet we are charged taxation for buying products that are required for our use because of our biology,” Hardy said.
“So I see this as a way of using our taxation system as a means to promoting gender equity,” she added.
Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham, asked if senators could change the “quite outdated” language in the legislation, which refers to menstrual products as “feminine hygiene products.”
“There is nothing about that natural function that is not hygienic,” Balint said. “I’m also concerned about the use of the word ‘sanitary’ and ‘sanitary napkins.’”
Pearson agreed that the language is “old-fashioned” and said the Senate Finance Committee had consulted with the tax department and the Office of Legislative Counsel, which had advised that the language not be changed.
That language is used because Vermont is part of a “Streamlined Sales Tax” agreement, Pearson said. Under the agreement, states use standardized definitions for taxable products.
The purpose of the multistate system is to help ease the burden of tax compliance for corporations that do business in multiple states.
Pearson said using language that isn’t in sync with other states could “jeopardize our membership in this agreement.” But senators are considering sending a letter, requesting that states in the agreement update their references to menstrual products.
“I just want to make it explicit that so many young women and girls and non-binary individuals grow up with the feeling that there is something wrong with their bodies, even when it is a natural part of the human condition,” Balint said. “I look forward to working with anyone within the body who is interested in crafting such a letter.”
Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, said Friday that his committee is also working on legislation to ensure that menstrual products are made available for free in Vermont’s schools.
