ATLANTA (Jan. 22, 2024) — The Georgia coalition working to end the state sales tax on period products held a press conference last week at the State Capitol to highlight the recent classification of period products by the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board.
Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta), a member of the Senate Committee on Finance, supports the effort, commenting, “I strongly support removing this sales tax from feminine hygiene products. We should improve access to these essential health products for women, not burden them with an unfair tax.”
Elle Knott, Advocacy Program Coordinator at YWCA of Greater Atlanta, summarized the group’s position by saying, “put simply, eliminating this tax would both remove financial barriers and end a discriminatory practice for women in Georgia. Now is the time for Georgia to modernize its code and become the 30th state to eliminate taxes on menstrual products.”
As of December 2023, the National Streamline Sales Tax Governing Board classified menstrual products as Menstrual Discharge Collection Devices (MDCDs), recognizing them as medically necessary products. The purpose of the governing board’s language adoption was to standardize the tax code designation of period products throughout the country. This new language should resonate in Georgia as it focuses more on the medical nature, not choice, of these unique products for women and girls.
Clair Cox, Chair of STOMP shared at the press conference that “Georgia should not tax girls and women for being girls and women. MDCDs are classified by the FDA as medical devices and are an item about which women and girls have no choice to use – they are necessary for good health.”
Sydney Wilson, Spelman College Student and Georgia Women’s Policy Institute Fellow, also stated that “with period products being classified as necessary menstrual discharge collection devices (MDCDs), these items should not be taxed as if they are luxury items. Women are being most impacted by this unconstitutional tax, as there is no equivalent tax on any medical device that their male counterparts require. By ending this tax on menstrual products, we would be reducing the stigma around menstruation in the state of Georgia.”
Georgia changed its tax code in 1996 to exempt food, prescriptions and other needed non-prescription medical devices. If period products were exempted when these other basic needs were exempted, Georgia women would have saved $150M. Georgia women already experience poverty rates at higher than the national average.
For more than seven years, Georgia STOMP has led the effort in Georgia to eliminate the discriminatory sales tax on menstrual products and has ensured active bills were before the state legislature every session beginning in 2018. Cox states that “during the time we have been actively working in Georgia, the number of states in the US with no sales tax on period products has more than doubled, with 29 states now having no state tax on menstrual products. Texas and Virginia are among these most recently joining the list.”
About Georgia STOMP:
Georgia STOMP is a robust coalition of 37 organization spanning the state, including member organizations YWCA Greater Atlanta, Helping Mamas, Health Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition, Over the Moon-Savannah, Junior Leagues of Georgia State Public Affairs Committee, IGNITE, Atlanta Grow, PERIOD of N. Gwinnett High School and Macon Periods Easier.
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Sen. Nan Orrock serves as the Democratic Caucus Secretary. She represents the 36th Senate District which includes portions of Fulton County. She may be reached at 404.463.8054 or by email at nan.orrock@senate.ga.gov.