The close of Utah’s 2019 legislative session left one ‘bloodied’ issue stuck in committee for the fourth year in a row — the exemption of menstrual hygiene supplies (i.e. pads and tampons) from sales tax.
A farewell to the “tampon tax” seemed inevitable as momentum grew, with 2015 being dubbed “The Year of the Period,” and hundreds of articles as well as public opinion, to put the best kind of pressure on legislators to take note of menstrual health, and the tampon tax specifically.
The national gaze even fell upon Utah in 2016 when proposed legislation to rid the state of our “tampon tax” was dismissed in committee because of fear of “complicating” the state tax code, a code that now exempts arcade tokens, snow cannons and vending machine candy from sales tax.