Rep: 'Tampon Tax' Elimination was 'Fair' Thing to Do

HARTFORD/MANCHESTER, CT — State Rep. Kelly Juleson-Scopino (D-Manchester ) on Monday hailed a change in state policy exempting feminine hygiene products and baby diapers from the state sales tax.

“Fair is fair,” Juleson-Scopino said “There’s an inequity that exists when women are taxed on their biology. There was a similar inequity with diapers – adult diapers were sales tax exempt but baby diapers were not.”

Juleson-Scopino was one of the authors and leading proponents of legislation in 2015 and 2016 to change the law that classified tampons and pads as “luxury goods” and not exempt from the sales tax. Connecticut exempts certain medical supplies and devices from the sales tax, feminine hygiene products and baby diapers were not.

The policy change was included in implementer language for the 2016 state budget but did not immediately go into effect.

Juleson-Scopino said, “Getting this issue across the finish line took a lot of work by a lot of people. Our Majority Leader, Matt Ritter, was so important to getting this issue its due when he served as Chair of the Public Health Committee.”

“Kelly Juleson-Scopino recognized a fundamental unfairness in the state sales tax and she righted the wrong,” Ritter (D-Hartford) said. “I think most people were surprised that the state had been taxing feminine hygiene products and baby diapers. It was a bad policy.”

Photo Credit: CT House Democrats