Texas Home passes invoice that may take away gross sales tax on menstrual, maternity merchandise

The Texas Home of Representatives handed a invoice on March 29 that may take away the gross sales tax on menstrual merchandise and maternity provides. If signed into legislation, the invoice would go into impact on Sept. 1. 

Filed by state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, Home Invoice 300 would exempt reproductive hygiene merchandise, together with tampons, sanitary napkins, menstrual cups and menstrual pads from gross sales tax. As well as, the invoice would additionally exempt maternity provides, similar to maternity clothes and breast pumps, in addition to grownup diapers and child merchandise like diapers, child wipes and child bottles.

Gov. Greg Abbott is among the many proponents of HB 300, which has acquired bipartisan help from different key politicians, together with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and members of the Senate Finance Committee, to which the invoice was referred for assessment on March 30.

Emma Wake, the group outreach officer for College students 4 Deliberate Parenthood, stated the invoice would lead to obligatory and elevated entry to reproductive hygiene care, particularly for college kids. 

Menstrual care merchandise can be found in choose bogs, the Gender and Sexuality Middle and numerous different areas on UT campus.

“Menstrual merchandise are so costly. … College students are very, very low revenue folks and the place we will get assist, we want it,” authorities junior Wake stated. “We’re going to have our interval it doesn’t matter what, so it appears solely proper that we even have the merchandise to handle that.”

If handed, Texas would turn into the twenty fourth state to exempt interval merchandise from the state’s present gross sales tax of 6.25%. Some cities and counties impose as much as 2% of their very own gross sales tax for a mixed gross sales tax of 8.25%. Howard stated the invoice is helpful as a result of it might cater to the wants of Texans of all ages and relieve households of monetary burdens.

“It’s a invoice that’s years within the making, and I’m proud to champion this effort together with different members of the Home,” Howard stated in an e-mail. “I stay up for working with my Senate counterparts to get this invoice to Gov. Abbott’s desk.”