Menstrual product brands form coalition to fight ‘tampon tax’, reimburse consumers

Several period care brands have joined forces to form a coalition for help reimburse ‘tampon tax’ to shoppers in the United States

A group of feminine hygiene brands including August, Cora, LOLA, The Honey Pot, Rael, Here We Flo, Saalt and DIVA have joined forces to fight the “tampon tax.” These brands together have formed The Tampon Tax Black Coalition in an effort to reimburse consumers the sales tax imposed on feminine hygiene products such as tampons, pads and menstrual cups in 21 US states. Although some states exempt essential products such as food and medications from being subject to sales tax, period care products are left out citing their status as nonessential goods. Shoppers have long argued that tax should not be levied on these products.

Period care makers have formed a coalition to fight 'tampon tax' (Pixabay)

The groups involved in the coalition said that buyers can claim sales tax reimbursements on their purchases by submitting their receipts to www.tampontaxback.com. The leader of the coalition, Nadya Okamoto, who is also the co-founder of August, said, “Text us a picture of your receipt and within 24 hours we will Venmo or Paypal you back the tampon tax you paid.” She also noted that each brand will reimburse its customers. “August is coordinating this on the backend through a dedicated pool of funds from each brand,” Nadya added.

Nadya further noted that much more needs to be done in order to raise public awareness about this issue until period products are tax-free in every state. Earlier in September, Texas repealed the tax on feminine hygiene products. Nadya asserts that menstrual products should “fall into the category of medical necessities.” Her brand, August, which she started as a direct-to-consumer period care brand in 2021, doesn't charge customers a sales tax on their purchases wherever possible, according to CNBC.

However, when August was launched at Target, Nadya was unable to oversee the point of purchase, losing the ability to cover the sales tax for customers. Later she came up with a solution, allowing customers to claim reimbursement on their purchases by submitting their receipts to the company. This became the model for the coalition's mission. Explaining the mission, Nadya said, “A lot of what we are doing now as of May 2023 is saying, hey, we can’t control whether or not you are charged a sales tax but we can reimburse you for it because we don’t believe this tax is justified.”

“And now we can reimburse you for the August products you buy, and any other period care you get from any of the eight participating brands in the coalition,” she added while explaining how the coalition works in order to fight the “tampon tax.” Giving clarification on the “tampon tax,” Katherine Loughead, senior policy analyst with Tax Foundation, a research group based in Washington, DC, said, “The so-called tampon tax is just a sales tax that applies to most of the goods we buy.” She added, “What we are talking about here is sales tax. There is no state that levies any sort of product-specific excise tax on tampons. So the idea of a tampon tax is kind of a misnomer.”