The proposal removes sales tax on diapers, baby wipes and bottles; feminine hygiene products, including tampons, sanitary napkins and menstrual cups; maternity clothing; and products for pumping breast milk.
Boxes of Procter & Gamble brand Pampers and Kimberly-Clark brand Huggies diapers for at-risk families living in poverty at the Little Essentials warehouse in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on Monday, July 12, 2021. The average unit priceTexas families would be spared sales tax on feminine hygiene products and some baby supplies under a bill that preliminarily passed the Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday.
If passed, the measure would cost the state an estimated $194 million in lost sales tax over two years, according to tAt a House hearing in early March, dozens of people spoke or filed written testimony in favor of the bill. Emily Adams, vice chair of the Austin Diaper Bank, testified with her infant daughter, Opal, in her arms. She said this bill would help the Texas economy, noting that some families are unable to send their children to daycare because they can’t afford the required diapers.
. The only financial assistance, other than nonprofit diaper banks, comes from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program; Texas’ TANF program gives low-income families less direct cash assistance than almost any state. In Texas, teenage girls have led the movement to make Texas the 24th state to remove sales tax on menstrual products. The group has argued in legal filings and legislative hearings that menstrual supplies should qualify as wound care dressings, which are exempt from sales tax, and that by excluding them, Texas is discriminating on the basis of sex.
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