Five Manhattan women filed a class-suit action against the Department of Taxation and Finance to eradicate tampon tax being discriminatory to the right of the women.
Margo Seibert, Jennifer Moore, Catherine O'Neil, Natalie Brasington, and Taja-Nia Henderson demanded to the department to stop collecting 4% luxury tax on feminine hygiene products. They argued that such products indisputably serve multiple medical purposes and a necessity for women's health.
They prayed in the complaint to end the tax and to refund money to the estimated 5 million women who purchase menstrual products in the state.
As per their allegations in the suit, it stated, "There can be only one explanation for the Department's decision to tax tampons and pads but not Rogaine, dandruff shampoo, foot powder, Chapstick, and so many other less medically necessary products also used by men...[these products] are used by women only."
It is also alleged that the department's double standard for men and women finds no support in the tax law and serves no purpose other than to discriminate.
However, New York State Department of Taxation and Finance counter-argued that feminine hygiene products such as douches, tampons, sanitary napkins, vaginal creams, are subject to sales tax because they are "generally used to control a normal bodily function and to maintain personal cleanliness."
Moreover, it said that the products which function as a treatment for a specific medical condition may be exempt from the sales tax.
The suit succinctly emphasized that without access to tampons and sanitary pads, women will be forced to use unsanitary and dirty rags which can lead to infections and an increased risk of diseases, such as cervical cancer, or have nothing at all to staunch the blood. Thus, it will pose a risk to the health of women and the public.
The lead counsel of the case told that it is time for New York to stop taxing women for being women. The state has been profiting illegally off of women's health for decades.
Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia opined, "Let's increase women's spending power by putting the $20 million we collect from them back into their pockets instead of unfairly taxing them for their periods. The money from the tampon tax should remain in the hands of our mothers, our sisters, our daughters and the 4.6 million California women living in poverty."
The average woman spends at least $70 per year on tampons and pads, according to court papers, earning the state a total of $14 million in taxes each year.
As provided by Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, Equal Protection Clause states that, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
