Feminine hygiene products such as tampons are currently subject to sales taxes in 35 states in the US. As this Fortune Magazine article points out, roughly half of all humans will require menstrual products at some point in their lives. This means that the products should be legally considered ‘necessary’, and therefore, exempt from general sales taxes, argues the female author. Some states exempt basic foods and prescription medications from sales taxes, Texas exempts cowboy boots, and Wisconsin exempts gun club memberships. Shouldn’t menstrual products fall into the same category?
Throughout the article, the female author refers to general sales taxes that don’t exempt menstrual products as ‘tampon taxes’, which is equivalent to a firearms enthusiast referring to their state’s sales tax as a ‘gun tax’ because he buys lots of firearms and is sick of paying the tax. States like California ACTUALLY DO place a special tax on ammunition. Unlike the general sales tax, this special ‘ammo tax’ is discriminatory and likely violates the 2nd amendment. Politicians in California and in Congress are working on implementing a tax on firearms, as well.
Eliminating sales taxes on feminine hygiene products would do nothing other than increase the general sales tax of the state in order to compensate for the decrease in taxable products, opponents argue. If, for example, California exempted all feminine hygiene products from their sales tax of 7.25%, they might have to increase their sales tax on the remaining products to 8 or 9%. Since sales taxes are otherwise uniform, a higher rate means that the poorest are most affected by being forced to pay an even higher percentage of their income to the politicians if they want to stay on the right side of the law. Considering that California’s politicians are already bludgeoning their citizens with massive taxes and harmful regulations, such a policy might be the last straw for struggling workers.
Seven states already do specifically exempt feminine hygiene products from their general sales taxes. Organizations like ‘Period Equity’ and companies like ‘LOLA’ are campaigning to force the rest of the States to give a sales tax exemption to feminine hygiene products. The activists appear in emotional videos with what seem to be expensive hairstyles while claiming that they must choose between buying food for their starving children and buying tampons for themselves. Make no mistake; the movement is just one of the many facets of the perpetual attack against men that the anti-white aggressive feminists have launched over the past few years. Their message is simple: Men are all evil pigs, they are responsible for all problems in the world, and women are destitute because of men. Men must be punished, taxed, and shamed in order to make up for the perpetual attack against women. “Rampant misogyny still exists…Men are not necessarily thinking of women’s needs.”, say the activists in the video. Throughout the 23-minute video, the progressive feminists continually use terms like ‘period poverty’, ‘menstrual equity’, and other sensationalist phrases. Other misguided anti-freedom activists demonstrate their equally profound stupidity by referring to the fact that some companies charge more for female products that are identical to their male counterparts’ as the ‘pink tax’. The ‘pink tax’ is deconstructed in this video. Women are clearly willing to pay a bit more for pink razors (which do happen to be different than male razors). Only a fool would believe that women would never pay a premium for aesthetics. Women spend billions of dollars per year for aesthetic premiums for clothing, purses, and many other products. Again, women are free to buy the blue razors if they want to save money.
Despite the radical feminist agenda’s claim that women are perpetual victims of society’s misogyny, the statistics show that males in the US possess nearly every concrete disadvantage, and males are increasingly struggling. If women want to play the victim game, they will lose to men by a humongous margin. On average, women live 5 years longer than men. 73% of overdose deaths are men. 77% of suicides in the US are men. 90% of prisoners are male. Boys graduate at a lower rate than girls. Boys account for more than twice the amount of ADHD cases as girls. Women outnumber men in graduate schools. Male high-school graduate’s wages are decreasing. Young adult males are now more likely to live with a parent than with a partner. The majority of managers are women. 70% of American men are overweight or obese. Sperm counts are down 60% since the 1970s. Testosterone levels in men have also been decreasing for the past few decades. The list goes on.
Of course, men generally love women and women generally love men, but this new-wave feminist movement wishes to make it clear to all men that all women hate them. Those of us who are married understand that women and men are unique and equally perfect and equally flawed.
Contrary to what the radical leftist progressive feminists in the video say, nearly nobody in the US actually goes hungry due to poverty. In fact, nearly every individual in the US buys the newest smartphones as soon as it comes out, and many people below the poverty line drive new cars, live in nice homes, eat out often, and even go on frequent vacations. Additionally, over 400 billion dollars per year is given to poor people in the US in the form of charity.
Libertarian presidential candidate Dan “taxation is theft” Behrman believes that these products should not be taxed and that they should tax-deductible, even without sales tax. If you earn $10 from your job, you can still only afford around $7 worth of product. Income tax deductions are in place to ensure that your cost of living and basic necessities are paid with pre-taxed income. Feminine hygiene products along with many other necessities should be included in that category. Behrman also believes that states should abolish the sales tax.
We at The Liberty Block fully support the feminist campaign, which they are calling ‘Tax Free. Period’. In fact, we believe that the campaign should be taken a step further. Much further. We believe that every state should exempt every product from sales taxes. In addition to eliminating state sales taxes – which disproportionately harm the poor – state politicians should cut spending to go along with the decreased ‘government revenue’ from sales taxes. Taxation is the taking of money via force of the threat of force. As such, it fits the description of ‘extortion’. The Liberty Block does not support extortion by anyone, even politicians.
