On March 16, Chicago joined the battle against sales taxes on feminine products. There was a unanimous vote by Illinois lawmakers. Cook County Commissioners, Richard Boykin and Deborah Sims, passed legislation to eliminate feminine hygiene tax within Cook County to re-categorize menstrual hygiene products from luxury items to medical necessities; Aldermen voted 46-0 to remove the tax. This was a reaction to the ongoing debate on whether or not menstrual products should be taxed as luxury items.
Tax codes previously classified tampons and sanitary napkins as luxury items meaning they were taxed 10.25 percent before the new legislation.
There are forty states in the country that currently collect sales tax on menstrual products. These same states understandably exempt necessities such as some food and most medical items.
However, some products that hardly qualify as essentials are not taxed. One may ask, why the tax on feminine products? The main reason is because most states consider them paper products like toilet paper, which are considered luxury items.
Despite the importance of the issue, some politicians remain either unaware or jolted that these products remain taxed. When informed about the tax during a live YouTube interview with Ingrid Nilsen, a popular video blogger, on Jan. 16, President Obama exemplified this: "I have to tell you, I have no idea why states would tax these as luxury items. I suspect it's because men were making the laws when those taxes were passed."
The President urged women in those forty states to work toward getting the tax lifted.
Before then, a petition had been launched on Change.org to eliminate tampon tax in the U.S. As of March 25, 2016 the petition has collected 58,183 signatures.
The decision by the state legislation would, at the beginning of next year, take effect after Springfield implements the law statewide.