Feminine Hygiene Grant
To provide feminine hygiene products for female
students in need in an effort to prevent absences
and other hardship
Feminine Hygiene Grant
Georgia STOMP In The News
Life & Work with Claire Cox
VoyageATL interviewed Georgia STOMP Chair Claire Cox about her menstrual equity advocacy.
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Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Cox.
Hi Claire, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Beginning in January of 2017, I became an outspoken advocate in middle Georgia politics, working with others to found an organization that addressed the protection of civil liberties, fair and representative elections, public education, access to affordable healthcare, and protection of the environment. During five years of leading that organization as President, I helped steer the group through its formational process and the numerous tasks of establishing a new organization. It grew to more than 1500 followers during my tenure.
In early 2017, a member of that organization brought forth the idea of eliminating the state sales tax on menstrual products in Georgia. After reviewing her research, we adopted sales tax elimination as a mission. Successful meetings with Rep. Allen Peake (R) – Macon and Rep. Debbie Buckner (D) – Junction City led to the introduction of HB731, a bill to eliminate state sales tax on menstrual products in Georgia.
Although the bill’s original signers were proportionally bipartisan, it never progressed out of committee. 2018 was nevertheless a successful year in that as we worked to get the bill passed, we forged a network that soon became Georgia STOMP. Advocates across the state learned of the bill’s existence through the media and joined the effort. The founding members of what became Georgia STOMP were Georgia Women (And Those Who Stand With Us), Junior League SPAC and YWCA – Greater Atlanta. Adele Stewart, now co-chair of Georgia STOMP, was a member of The Junior League of Savannah at the time and through that local unit introduced the work to the statewide Junior League State Public Affairs Committee (SPAC).
In the months between the 2018 and 2019 Georgia Legislative Sessions, connections were made to individuals and groups throughout the state and nation — calls or emails were sent to anyone who might have knowledge about or interest in period-related issues. Additionally, a large group of legislators and coalition partner leadership was convened for two working summits. Biennial Summits continue to be a core aspect of Georgia STOMP’s connection across the state.
Serendipitously, in October of 2018, the Alliance for Period Supplies scheduled the first national conference on Period Leadership in Atlanta. Members of Georgia STOMP attended the conference, and it became a turning point for the coalition. With leaders from all over the country present, coalition attendees were challenged to look beyond the tax elimination issue to numerous areas of menstrual inequity.
Today, the growing statewide coalition educates and advocates for the provision of products in schools, state-run incarceration facilities, and following natural disasters. We are 37+ organizations with a geographic reach across the state and more than 85,000 connected individuals.
We have ensured a bill to eliminate the discriminatory sales tax on menstrual products (MDCDs – menstrual discharge collection devices) has been active in the state legislature every session since 2018. We have also been successful in obtaining funding in the state budget to provide MDCDs in Georgia’s public schools and via our local county health departments. We have encouraged policy changes at the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) and Georgia’s Department of Corrections.
In 2021, when the coalition formalized, seated its first Board, and became a 501c3, I was elected the inaugural Chair and for the last three years, I’ve led efforts in Georgia to ensure the efficiency, continuation, and growth of these successes. Seeing Georgia become the 30th state to have no sales tax on menstrual products remains the primary focus of our work.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When I started this work, I had very little knowledge of what happens at our state Capitol, how bills are filed and eventually become law, the political realities in our state, or a host of other pieces of practical information that I needed to begin this journey.
Seven years in, I realize how extensive, and when leadership wants it to be, how convoluted, the lawmaking process is, and how much power one person can exert. I’ve sadly also learned those who don’t want your bill to become law can make you spend a lot of time chasing “red herrings” or having to address arguments that are not based in fact. Just as distressing is how the voice of those who support a cause can be silenced under the dome.
On the positive side, nothing is more satisfying than when common ground is found by individuals who might seem to have nothing in common. An additional uplifting aspect of this work is all the amazing people across the state who have coalesced around the need for menstrual equity in our laws and policies and the individuals and business leaders who are learning from the menstrual movement and making changes in the spaces in which they have influence.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a Georgia native with a Chemical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech. When my husband gave me my engagement ring, I was wearing blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and steel-toed boots. I’ve worked in Georgia’s kaolin and paper industries as well as had responsibilities for a large power-producing plant.
Early in my career, the needs of my children led me to become a full-time mother, volunteering in Bibb County Public Schools and leading various ministries at my church.
When my husband opened his law firm, the need for that work coupled with my desire to learn, meant a return to college and a combination IT/Accounting degree earned from Macon State College during the days when my girls were in school.
The acquiring of responsibility for family-owned land meant another opportunity for learning. In 2015, I became a land manager for 850 acres, establishing a longleaf pine tree farm and restoring its accompanying habitat in Dodge County, Georgia.
My husband, Charlie, and I are lovers of live music. We spend our recreational hours attending concerts and promoting Macon’s long and rich music history. We were co-leaders in establishing the Macon Music Registry, documenting historic Macon music related locations with informational plaques, which is now housed at Visit Macon.
All of these “hats” are a part of who I am and what I do — lifelong student, advocate, accountant, tree farmer, wife, mother, and music lover. In no particular order, that is who I am.
What matters most to you? Why?
I think what matters to me most is the ability of everyone to live their life without fear, discrimination, or undue hardship. We need to value every life and every life choice, creating a community that respects and supports the rights of all to work, to worship, and to love.
Op Ed: The tampon tax is ready to be eliminated in Georgia
This op-ed was co-authored by Georgia STOMP board member Rachel Perlis and UGA Law student Larken Cardin.
Rachel G. Perlis is a UGA Law alumna and Atlanta attorney whose practice has included litigation, state law and policy, and most recently estate planning. She serves as a Board Member and Legislative Chair for Georgia STOMP, a group advocating to expand menstrual equity and eliminate period poverty in Georgia.
Larkin Carden is a third-year law student at the University of Georgia School of Law. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Auburn University. After law school, Larkin will join King & Spalding’s Trial and Global Disputes Team in Atlanta, Georgia. Larkin is currently conducting research and analysis on the history and current treatment of the Tampon Tax in Georgia.
As the halfway point of the legislative session, Crossover Day, fast approaches, we urge legislators to prioritize legislation that would vitally impact the lives of Georgia women.
HB 123 and SB 51 are mirror bills with bi-partisan support that propose changes to O.C.G.A § 48-8-3, a portion of the Georgia code that governs sales tax exemptions.
These bills seek tax exempt status for necessary medical devices required by every Georgia woman to do basic things like go to work, go to school, and fully participate in society. That’s right, we’re talking about menstrual products, or “Menstrual Discharge Collection Devices” (MDCD’s).
Under current Georgia law, every box of tampons is subject to a 4% state sales tax. This adds about $0.32 to a $7.97 box of Tampons.
Opponents of these bills claim this extra expense is cheap, and exempting MDCDs from the state sales tax will not impact women’s wallets. Frankly, that’s not true.
The average woman spends about $20.00 on MDCDs per cycle, adding up to about $18,000 over the course of her lifetime. Because MDCDs are subject to the state sales tax, Georgia women end up paying closer to $19,000. That means the state collects almost $1,000 in revenue per woman over the course of her lifetime, solely because she has a period.
Subjecting menstrual products to sales tax is at a minimum unfair, and at a maximum discriminatory. There is no other medically necessary product purchased solely by one class of people that remains subject to the tax.
In this state, when a product rises to such a necessary level it generally warrants an exemption. Groceries fall into this category, as do prescription medications, but menstrual products continue to be taxed and Georgia women continue to suffer.
While other limited measures are in place to address lack of access to these products, such measures fail to recognize the reoccurring financial burden this tax has on Georgia women and the discriminatory nature of the tax.
Opponents claim that issuing an exemption on menstrual products will significantly impact the state’s tax revenue and overall budget. There is no denying that the revenue generated from the state sales tax is important. Sales tax constitutes the second largest single source of revenue for the state behind the state personal income tax. However, in 2023, the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts reviewed the impact SB 51 would have on state revenue. Considering that in 2024, Georgia plans to spend $32.4 billion in money raised through taxes and fees, this report found that for fiscal year 2024, if menstrual products are exempted from the sales tax, projected revenue loss is $6.1 million from this $32 billion total. It’s hard to believe that this 0.01% loss is going to break the state budget.
Opponents tenuously argue that the issuance of this exemption will cause a snowball effect of other “special interest” exemptions, and the state’s tax revenue will diminish drastically. Let’s be clear: repealing the tax on menstrual products does not set a precedent for other tax exemptions or carve-outs. This category is singular: menstrual products are medical products that have improperly remained taxable in a state which claims to value exempting necessities.
Furthermore, concern for diminished tax revenue has not prevented the same opponents from pushing legislation that would significantly decrease overall state tax revenue, such as HB 283 (partial sales tax exemption on sale of manufactured homes), and HB 1015 and HB 1019 (respectively propose state income tax cuts and double the homestead tax exemption) which have all already crossed over from the House to the Senate. For further comparison, SB 344 (five-day tax holiday on guns, ammunition, and firearm accessories), has crossed over to the House, and would necessarily cause loss of tax revenue currently generated from these sales.
Legislators have no aversion to issuing exemptions or tax breaks. The issue is whether our legislators consider this particular exemption a priority. The fact that menstrual products remain subject to the state sales tax shows women that the 0.01% in revenue that this tax generates for the state is more important than eliminating this unfair financial burden on women.
Currently 29 states, including Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia, do not tax menstrual products. As recently as last week, an Alabama Senate Committee approved a bill that would remove its 4% sales tax from menstrual products. These states recognize this tax as unfair, and their legislative action shows women that their physical and financial health are a priority. Georgia shows no signs of doing the same.
HB 123 and SB 51 are stuck in their respective House and Senate Committees, with no indication that they will receive the requisite two hearings and a vote needed to cross over. If these bills do not move out of their respective chambers before Crossover Day, they will be dead and women will have to wait until 2025 to take this issue up again.
Leadership in both chambers should know that there are a great number of Georgians who are not happy about their lack of action to eliminate this discriminatory tax! Head here to e-mail Leadership and your state legislators to tell them you want this legislation pushed forward.
Click here to view the full article in the Georgia Recorder.
Atlanta City Council considers providing free women’s health products in city buildings
By Eric Mock Fox 5 Atlanta News
ATLANTA – As the Atlanta City Council considers an ordinance to provide free feminine hygiene products in all their facilities, nonprofits on the frontlines of period poverty say the need for this type of legislation couldn’t be greater.
Jamie Lackey is the CEO and founder of Helping Mamas – an organization that distributes millions of products to women in need each year.
Their second most distributed item is period products.
“Last year we distributed 810,000 products to about 32,000 individuals,” Lackey said.
She said 800,000 period products in a year may sound like a lot, but it hardly makes a dent in the need in metro Atlanta.
“We’re skimming the surface and that’s how we always feel, that we’re putting a Band-Aid on it,” Lackey said.
The nonprofit head says period poverty means many teen girls have to miss school and women have to miss work because they’re deciding between paying for period products and basic essentials.
“We hear daily that people are having to make these tough choices. And so what they did is, they chose food that month, they chose to pay their light bill that month … but then what happens when they have to stay home is, if they’re an hourly worker, and they’re not getting vacation then they’re not getting their income. And it just becomes this vicious cycle,” Lackey said.
So she applauded the proposed Atlanta City ordinance that would make period products available in all city facilities.
City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari is the ordinance’s main sponsor.
“Anything that can get us towards making hygiene products more accessible means that we are helping more people not miss out on their day-to-day lives. And we’re assisting in eradicating hygiene poverty,” Bakhtiari said.
She says she was inspired by Macon-Bibb County passing a similar ordinance, and she’s confident the bill has enough support to pass.
“This legislation has 13 sponsors, so I have every confidence it’s going to pass,” Bakhtiari said.
But even after introducing the bill weeks ago, it was hung up in committee.
“My plan is to have everything completed before we even hit our budget cycle in June and hopefully start implementing this by summer,” Bakhtiari said.
Lackey says most of their distribution goes to people in Atlanta, but if this ordinance passes, it could free up some of their supply for other areas that need it.
“So now it allows us to be able to shift maybe to somewhere else that doesn’t have that,” she said.
And Lackey hopes this will inspire other metro area municipalities to do the same.
“I mean, how exciting would that be for an entire metro area to say that ‘We’ve got women taken care of. We value women,'” Lackey said.
Click here to view the full article on Fox 5 Atlanta’s website.
Teens are the leading voice to end ‘period poverty’
Laura Berrios
Chamblee High School senior Deeksha Khanna has spent the past year trying to understand period poverty and ease the injustices of it in her community.
She has learned that one in five women and girls do not have access to menstrual products, a basic necessity.
The 17-year-old has assembled personalized menstrual hygiene kits – with medications, pads, tampons, wipes, and sanitizers – and delivered them to homeless shelters, community centers and schools.
Period poverty describes the inequities of low-income women and girls who struggle to obtain menstrual products, and the stigmas attached to menstruation.
Deeksha, passionate about service and social justice, founded The Elea Project to end period poverty and ensure women’s menstrual health by partnering with other groups on this issue.
She has worked with 25 organizations in Georgia and other states in the past year. Through her GoFundMe account, she has collected $2,000 in donations and given out almost 13,000 products.
“Millions of women around the world have to miss school, have to miss jobs, have to take sick days because of something so fundamental to their existence,” said Deeksha. “As a student, I value my education. I felt a connection to those women and decided this is a perfect area for me (to serve).”
Teens like Deeksha are leading the way to humanize and break taboos around menstruation.
Their voice in period poverty is vital, said Claire Cox, chair of Georgia STOMP, a statewide coalition advocating for menstrual equity and elimination of period poverty in Georgia.
“It’s really a movement among young people these days,” Cox said. “They are asking for needs many of us never thought to voice. They’re speaking up and busting stigmas that are barriers to these conversations.
“They’re starting movements at their schools, and when they go to colleges and universities, they continue the movements. And I think five years from now, the workplace, and the restrooms in workplaces, will be different places.”
STOMP stands for Stop Taxing Menstrual Products, and it’s the group’s main message to state legislators. Every year since 2018, a bill to eliminate the state sales tax on period products has been before the Georgia legislature. Twenty-four states do not tax period products, and five other states don’t levy any sales tax.
Cox also works to destigmatize the topic by changing dated terms like “hygiene products” and advises schools that receive state funding for menstrual supplies. Georgia was the first state to fund period products for grades 5-12, she said.
In Gwinnett County, 17-year-old Rhea Sethi said she didn’t know “period poverty” was an actual term until she got involved last year with her school’s chapter of Period. – a global, youth-fueled organization that strives to eradicate period poverty and stigma through service, education, and advocacy.
This year, she’s leading the chapter, organizing donation drives to supply menstrual products at elementary schools, and ensuring her peers at North Gwinnett High know where they can get free period products on campus.
“After I got into the menstrual movement, it was such an inspiring thing,” said Rhea, a senior. “I immediately wanted to be part of it and see what impact I could have in advocacy and service.”
Members of North Gwinnett High Period. chapter – both girls and guys – twice went to the state Capitol during the last legislative session and spoke with lawmakers about the hardships of the sales tax.
“Having a tax on tampons and period products is inequity,” Rhea said. “Why do we have to have a tax on it? Seems like a punishment because you have to buy products like these.”
She said even a slight price increase causes women to use cheaper products, which may harm them.
According to Groundswell, the average woman spends about $120 per year on pads and tampons and an additional $20 each year on over-the-counter medication to combat cramps and other period-related side effects.
The North Gwinnett chapter tries to humanize the subject by keeping meetings informative and fun. Having male members serve in leadership roles helps to break down stereotypes and misunderstandings.
The Elea Project also focuses on education, and Deeksha has gathered some of the movement’s leading voices in the state for panel discussions that she posts on social media.
Deeksha said forming partnerships with like-minded groups has made her efforts more efficient and effective. For example, she partnered with the University of Georgia Period Project to assemble over 4,000 kits of menstrual supplies and helped to distribute them in Athens and metro Atlanta.
She said her most meaningful moment in this journey so far was partnering with the Global Village Project, a school for refugee girls in Decatur, and providing them with period products.
When learning that some girls could not speak about menstrual needs within their families or communities and would have to conceal their products to go home, Deeksha placed the items in paper bags so they could be discreet.
“A big part of Elea is to eradicate that stigma that exists around period poverty,” she said, “because it’s such a fundamental underpinning of being a woman.”
HOW TO HELP
The Elea Project: theeleaproject.org
Instagram: @theeleaproject
GoFundMe: gofund.me/e0aae3b3
All donations go to purchase period products that are distributed to community centers, shelters and schools.
Georgia STOMP: www.georgiastomp.org
Opinion: How You Can Help During Period Poverty Awareness Week
Jamie Lackey | May 22, 2023
Last year alone, Helping Mamas distributed nearly 900,000 period products to the women and girls who need them the most. The bulk of those essential items were distributed during the summer.
The burden of period poverty falls on women and girls who are already struggling to meet their basic needs. It can lead to health issues, self-esteem problems, and reduced productivity. Without access to period supplies, they miss school, work, and play. Overcoming period poverty is a multifaceted approach. It takes collaboration between nonprofits, corporations, and the government to solve this issue.
Here’s how you can help:
Period poverty is a critical issue impacting women and girls worldwide and it is exacerbated in Georgia where period products are taxed. The lack of access to basic, essential items for marginalized individuals, contributes to a cycle of poverty and limited opportunities.
Period Poverty Awareness Week, May 22-28, marks the end of the school year, which is the time when girls still receive free period supplies. Once summer begins, they lose access to these essential items. Helping Mamas, Georgia’s only baby and basic needs supply bank, aims to shine a light on period poverty, an issue that’s often stigmatized and leads to unhygienic practices, social isolation, and missed school and work opportunities. Period poverty is a public health issue, a poverty issue, and a gender equality issue.
According to a 2021 study by U by Kotex, over one-third of low-income women reported missing school or work due to lack of access to period products. One in six women in Georgia, ages 12-44 live below the federal poverty line. The taxation of period products perpetuates the misconception that menstruation is a luxury rather than a biological necessity.
If the Georgia legislature could drop this regressive tax policy, we could close the gap for vulnerable communities.
- Raise Awareness: Education campaigns, community outreach programs, and social media campaigns can help destigmatize menstruation, mobilize support, and amplify the voices of those affected.
- Policy Changes: Advocacy efforts focused on pressuring policymakers to remove the sales tax on period products. Several U.S. states, including neighboring Illinois and Florida, have successfully eliminated the tax. Working with groups like Georgia STOMP is a great way to stay involved in advocacy efforts in GA.
- Public-Private Partnerships: Collaboration between government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private enterprises can help bridge the gap in access to period products. Helping Mamas works with school districts, shelters, health departments, and other organizations to make sure that no one is left behind because of period poverty.
- Education: Comprehensive education programs that go beyond the biological aspects can help combat taboos, promote understanding, and empower individuals with the knowledge to manage their menstrual health effectively.
- Donate: Consider supporting Georgia’s only baby supply bank to ensure that the women and girls who need them receive essential period products.
Here’s How Metro Atlanta is Bringing Awareness to Period Poverty
11 Alive News Coverage of Period Poverty Week 2023
Product Collection Drives hosted by Rep. Sandra Scott and summer needs highlighted by Helping Mamas CEO, Jamie Lackey.
Georgia Lawmaker and Georgia STOMP Push for Menstrual Equity and Eradication of Period Poverty
On Monday, May 15th, Board Members Claire Cox and Ashlie James joined Rep. Debbie Buckner on the WABE radio show “Closer Look” hosted by Rose Scott to discuss Georgia’s legislative efforts to address Menstrual Equity and eliminate Period Poverty.
Listen to the 27 minute podcast here: https://www.wabe.org/podcasts/closer-look/local-lawmaker-pushes-to-end-so-called-poverty-tax-professor-discusses-the-recent-increase-in-tornadoes-in-georgia/
GPB Coverage of 2023 Tax Elimination Efforts
Georgia continues charging so-called tampon tax despite latest legislative repeal effort
Article by Chaya Tong
When Laura Strausfeld was a law student, she went to the drugstore to pick up a box of tampons, throwing a chapstick in on the way. Glancing at the receipt, she noticed that the tampons had a sales tax. The chapstick, however, did not.
What Strausfeld had noticed was the so-called tampon tax, a sales tax levied on menstrual products that has since been eliminated in many states around the country. Outraged by the inequity of the tax, Strausfeld went on to found the nonprofit Period Law, which works to repeal taxation on menstrual products across the country. Period Law, along with other national and local advocacy groups, stood in support of eliminating the tax this past legislative session in Georgia. But women in Georgia continue to pay the tax on menstrual products, and will continue to do so – at least until next year.
Senate Bill 51, which would end the sales tax on menstrual products in the state, did not advance out of the committee this year, but is still alive for 2024 when the Legislature reconvenes next January.
If Georgia eliminated its 4% sales tax on menstrual products, it would become the 29th state to dispose of the so-called tampon tax. But the GOP-controlled Legislature has balked at efforts to tax period products at the same rate as food and medicine. Though the bill did not make it out of committee, it did at least rate a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee, leaving the door open for lawmakers to support lifting the tax in the future.
“These products are not luxury items, but states like Georgia are taxing them as luxury items,” said Lacey Gero, manager of state policy at the Alliance for Period Supplies, a national network of nonprofits dedicated to ending what is known as period poverty, which is when someone lacks adequate access to essential period products.
“Period supplies are not luxury items, and they should not be taxed as such. In states like Georgia, we’re seeing that the products are being taxed at the same rate or similar rate to decor and electronics or makeup and toys,” Gero said.
The issue is not new. Rep. Debbie Buckner introduced an exemption bill in 2018, 2019 and 2021. All have proved unsuccessful.
“The information and the proof about why it is an unfair tax has been presented time and time again,” Buckner said. “That sales tax on top of the cost of the products – that is meaningful because women do not make the same level of salaries that men do. It is a medical necessity for them to buy the product and there’s nothing comparable that men are taxed for or that they have to buy.”
In this year’s Senate finance hearing for SB 51, Sen. Nabilah Islam, a Lawrenceville Democrat who sponsored the bill, pointed out that groceries, prescription goods and personal medical devices including candy, soda and Viagra are all exempt from Georgia’s sales tax. If passed, the bill would exempt menstrual products from the sales tax under non-prescription medical devices. Of the non-prescription medical devices listed by the FDA, Islam said, menstrual products are the most used.
Some progress has been made to help with the costs. Georgia was one of the first states to set aside money in the state budget for public health and public education to distribute period products to low-income women and girls. Last year, the Legislature increased spending for education to include elementary schools in addition to middle and high schools. This year, lawmakers are increasing the amount for public health departments so that they can distribute products to homeless shelters and other community support resources. Yet, the state still levies a state-wide tax on menstrual products.
Twenty three states have passed legislation eliminating the tax on feminine hygiene products. Five states do not have a sales tax at all, for a total of 28 states without period product taxes. Of the Southern states, Florida eliminated its tax in 2017 and Louisiana followed suit in 2021. In Texas this year, GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has signaled his support for removing the tax. Missouri lifted the tampon tax earlier this month. National drugstore chain CVS Health has paid the applicable sales tax on menstrual products since 2022 in states that still levy it, including Georgia.
“It really is a bipartisan issue and that’s why we keep pushing it in Georgia. We realize that Georgia has had trouble passing this bill, but we have faith that they will,” said Michela Bedard, executive director at PERIOD, a global nonprofit. “Georgia should be credited with already taking steps to put money in the budget to pay for period poverty, so this is something that’s already on their mind. We just want to finish the project.”
This year’s attempt to lift the tax failed in part due to a parliamentary question whether bills affecting revenue can originate in the Senate. Some legislators argued that bills proposing to raise revenue need to be started in the House, but that sequencing doesn’t apply to taking money away from tax collections.
“We’ve got significant support, bipartisan support, but we continue to be blocked from having hearings in the House and getting it moving,” said Claire Cox, co-founder of Georgia STOMP (Stop Tax On Menstrual Products) and chair of the Georgia STOMP board. “There’s a lack of understanding of what’s not moving in the House. There’s interest in the Senate.”
Though it received support in the Senate, repealing the tax does face strong opposition from one powerful state legislator.
“Like many issues of importance to Georgians who are under considerable financial stress, the Republican majority did not allow a vote on this bill,” said Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat who co-sponsored SB 51. “As I understand it, there has been opposition to the bill from a high-ranking Republican female legislator in the House. That’s where the compromise of the money in the budget came from … she appears to be a main reason the bill has not gotten farther.”
House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, a Johns Creek Republican, favors a budgetary approach, allocating money directly to distribute period products to low-income women. Jones argues that eliminating the tax would have negligible effect on individuals in addition to costing the state treasury around $13 million a year. Georgia does not make a distinction in its tax code between what people need and what people want except for exempting food and drugs, Jones said, citing necessary products the state continues to tax like diapers.
“If you only tax the things that people want when you have an economic downturn, it’s state government, personnel money coming in to pay for the other things that people need, like Medicaid or all the public education,” she said.
The question, Jones said, is not if people need menstrual products but would exempting them from the state sales tax would actually make a difference?
“I don’t think it would make a serious difference. What makes a difference is giving someone the products that they need free of charge,” she added. “If I’m poor, saving three or four dollars a year makes no difference. What I need is the products in my hand.”
Proponents of this year’s legislation say that period products should have been made exempt from taxation back when the state exempted groceries and medical necessities.
“I talked to the people who were in the room when they took the tax off of groceries and there were no women in the room,” Buckner said. “The men in the room just didn’t think about it. They don’t use the products.”
“These products are a medical necessity. They are required monthly. They amount to a decent amount of money on a monthly basis for people on fixed incomes,” she added.
Advocates also cite the fact that Georgia has a record high revenue at the moment with a $6.6 billion surplus. The so-called tampon tax would amount to less than 0.01% of the state budget and would save women and girls an estimated $6.1 million dollars.
Though setting money aside in the budget is important and an admirable step in the right direction, proponents say, it does not address the issue of equity.
“[The Legislature] it’s male dominated. Our strongest supporter for the elimination of period poverty is also very strongly against giving tax breaks, and those two things in Georgia have gotten very conflated and made the conversation difficult about the inequity, the discriminatory nature of the sales tax as a separate issue from addressing period poverty,” Cox said. “Conflating the poverty issue with the discriminatory issue misses the point completely.”
Suzanne Herman, attorney and legal director at Period Law, says that allocating money in the budget for menstrual products and lifting the sales tax on them are not mutually exclusive. She points out that continuing the so-called tampon tax is a matter of fairness, especially in Georgia given the fact that Coca-Cola, which is headquartered in the state, is exempt from the sales tax.
“It’s not a coincidence that soda is untaxed under Georgia’s exemption for groceries whereas in a lot of other states, you don’t see soda having a sales tax exemption,” she added.
Georgia’s menstrual product tax isn’t just inequitable, Herman said, it’s unconstitutional.
“It is an unconstitutional tax and it’s a principled argument of discriminatory practices. There’s money that Georgia and women have been paying for years and years that is unconstitutional federally, probably under the state Georgia Constitution as well,” she said. “It really signals to women that their health and dignity in this sense is not prioritized.”
Correction: This story originally overstated the number of times legislation to lift the tax was filed in recent years.
Grady News Source Covers HB 5
Story at 14:09 minute mark
The University of Georgia’s Grady News Source recently interviewed Georgia STOMP member organization, Project Red, about House bill HB5, which would “require the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia to make menstrual hygiene products available at no cost to students in certain facilities or portions of facilities in institutions.” Project Red is a UGA student group dedicated to supplying campus bathrooms with free period products. As part of the segment, Georgia STOMP Board Member, Madison Shellnut, a member of Project Red, comments on tax elimination efforts in Georgia
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