Should there be no sales tax on incontinence products???

[Archives1]

Okay, it's time to put my money where my mouth is and start a new topic: should there be no sales tax on incontinence products? As stated in other very recent posts, since incontinence products are a necessity I don't think a sales tax should be imposed on them. The way I see it, we're a captive audience and we buy these because they are a necessity. Just like I don't think there should be a sales tax on food and definitely not on professional services such as visits to the doctors office. Those amenities are expensive enough as they are, and for those on limited or fixed incomes make a big enough burden even bigger and less manageable. And further taxing those things I think is discriminatory. Taking it further, can you imagine if they imposed a sales tax on surgery??? So, bottom line, how do you feel about sales tax on incontinence products?

 

[Archives1]

Don't know where you live but there is no sales tax on incontinence products in New York State.

 

[Archives1]

Ok so let me ask you this as well-most women in the US are taxed on period products. Should this be happening too?

I would love to see a change in the US but I'm also not really going to believe it will change. I feel like not taxing items in some peoples minds is like socialism.

I think it would be nice if they were taxed less, however if the money is helping people who are lower income due to medical issues...I'm happy paying a bit more. There definitely needs to be a balance though and I sympathize with people in states that are higher taxed.

 

[Archives1]

Hi @Koigal, great response, and to answer your question, period products for women should not be taxed either. A woman has to have these things and shouldn't have to hold off buying them just because the sales tax would put that purchase out of their planned budget range.
And the same with diapers for a baby/toddler. Those things are definitely necessities and they do make life more tolerable.
And most unfortunately in this day and age I'm sure that there are a lot of people who think that not taxing items is akin to socialism. I think government should help people, after all that's what one of its main functions is.
And the idea of taxing less and using that money to help lower income people with their medical needs is a brilliant idea. I wouldn't mind paying a bit more as long as the money I'm paying directly helps those who are more medically needy. This country needs to get smart like that and be more creative in finding ways to help people who have big needs and less money. Big question is, will it happen?????

 

[Archives1]

Hi @JohnAM, I live in Florida, so of course there is sales tax on incontinence products. And with as many elderly people as there are, the sales tax on those products is a great money-maker!! All at the expense of everybody who needs these products of course!

 

[Archives1]

there should be no sales tax on incontinence products, disposable diapers, and menstrual products anywhere, these are all necessary products

 

[Archives1]

No tax in Ontario Canada, but there is on baby diapers. And bathroom tissue. Why? Because it is considered a luxury. A case could be made for disposable baby diapers, but not for toilet paper. Maybe if the politicians managed the public coffers more responsibly, they wouldn't have to take as much from consumers.

 

[Archives1]

I live in New Mexico, where there was sales tax on food until relatively recently. They finally eliminated that.

The problem with teaching food, incontinence products, feminine hygiene products, baby diapers, and other things that are basic necessities of life is that the tax is regressive. Low-income people end up spending a much higher percentage of their incomes on these taxes, while high-income people spend a smaller percentage. This is the very definition of a regressive tax.

The other side of the argument, though, is that local governments get much of their funding from sales taxes, and the more things that are exempted from sales tax, the bigger the hit that local governments take to their revenue. Raising taxes on other products is not always easy, and when governments do that, it's fair to wonder whether low-income people still spend the same percentage of their incomes on taxes. That would defeat the point of the tax exemption.

Maybe (and I'm just thinking out loud here) the solution is to figure out a better way to fund governments besides sales tax. To be workable, such a tax would need to be non-regressive and easy to calculate (we have a complicated income tax that costs taxpayers billions of dollars in tax-preparation assistance, so let's not create something else complicated!). I don't know what that tax would be, though.

Short term, I agree that incontinence products, menstrual products, and other basic necessities should not be be taxed, but I question where we should draw the line of what is and it's not taxed. Government is typically only able to slice these things up with a very dull knife, and that allows lots of unscrupulous people to find loopholes that were never intended.

 

[Archives1]

Toilet paper a luxury? that's a necessity and there are very few alternatives yes there are the "FLUSABLE WIPES" which really are not that flushable the so-called flushable wipes clog equipment at wastewater treatment plants are the so-called flushable wipes should be considered the luxury item and be taxed what other alternatives are there? yes they used to tear pages from the Sears Roebuck catalogs which is fine on a holding tank with no plumbing but start dropping catalog and magazine pages down your toilet and watch the clogs begin toilet paper is designed to break down without clogging

No tax in Ontario Canada, but there is on baby diapers. And bathroom tissue. Why? Because it is considered a luxury. A case could be made for disposable baby diapers, but not for toilet paper. Maybe if the politicians managed the public coffers more responsibly, they wouldn't have to take as much from consumers.

 

[Archives1]

Hi @jeffswet, They really believe that bathroom tissue is a luxury???
Try living without it!!!! Not in this day and age!!! There is all of this talk about flushable wipes and the warnings on most packages advise not to flush!!! So what can you do??? Bathroom tissue has been around for ages and no one in his right mind is going to do without that! And since we are so used to it, we just go ahead and pay any taxes on it because going without would be unthinkable!!
But I like your comment that if the politicians managed the public coffers better, they wouldn't have to ask the consumers to help cover for them! That problem is endemic, no matter where you are or what country or state you live in.

 

[Archives1]

These are all good comments. I agree with all of the. I guess we should start writing our politicians, but I'm not there yet with other issues needing attention.

 

[Archives1]

In dc we have a “no diaper tax” but as far as I know it’s only for baby diapers. Although in don’t know because when I order from Northshore there is no tax.

 

[Archives1]

Diapers (for kids), formula for kids, and feminine hygiene items are the items most commonly stolen from grocery and big-box stores. No, I don’t think they should be taxed, but I don’t believe that will ever change.

 

[Archives1]

Itapilot - I also live in NM and when I lived in Colorado there was no food tax. But in both states some packaged foods are taxed. That law went into effect in Colorado in 2010. I agree with you all about the definition of "necessity." It is very arbitrary. The New York State Blue Laws in 1963 prevented me from purchasing menstrual products on a Sunday. Of all things. I could get cigarettes though!

And I'm past worrying about my politics. I am a democratic socialist after being a conservative for many years. I'm tired of our government leaders trying to hang on to a romanticized past. We're getting nowhere and fast. We have to flood the politicians mailboxes and phone lines with our concerns. We have to examine the credentials of candidates to see where their true interests are.

Everybody I talk with is sick of all the junk going on in America.

 

[Archives1]

@ltapilot Perfect post, I totally agree with you. I’m generally pro-tax because I like my roads to be maintained, my garbage to be collected, my parks to be taken care of, my wilderness places to be protected, etc. All of that costs money, and taxes provide that money. If we paid more taxes, we could actually have public medical care. But no American will concede to paying the tax rate that the Scandinavians pay.

 

[Archives1]

Well @snow, I didn't know that! But it is not at all surprising seeing as how so many families these days are struggling to just be able to pay for all of the basics including those items.
I saw somewhere that a growing number of places have diaper banks now set up to specifically help families. I think some of those banks may also carry adult diapers as well. Not sure if it's a "thing" in Utah but wouldn't that be nice???

 

[Archives1]

@billliveshere I bet there are baby diaper banks around here. One good thing about Mormons is that they’re generous when it comes to public aid and community service.

 

[Archives1]

My previous town taxed every thing - the council ignored the public comment. They don't want to raise property tax because they'd be out of office toot sweet, and they'd be included, but old white men don't worry about diapers, menstrual product, and not incontinence prodicts/ (They'd have to admit they are Incontinence!) And I'm an Old White Male with Incontinence.. Their excuse: everyone should pay their share - which is so lame it's close to a felony! If you are poor, that means you are paying a higher percentage of your income. Generally, members of City Councils (and State Legislatures) are older and have more money.
Of course sales tax is regressive. They don't care. "Socialism" is an excuse, these days, for about anything that helps people, especially the poor.
DPcare said: quote: there should be no sales tax on incontinence products, disposable diapers, and menstrual products anywhere, these are all necessary products. Unquote. Yes! DP nailed it!
Baby diapers a luxury? Let them change diapers for a few months, wear menstrual product for 40 years. A**oles. We went with cloth for 1st child - in the late '60s, and they were actually hard to get, then - only Sears by mail, who is now bankrupt & isn't a "department"store, anymore, anyway.
Cloth diapers require a diaper pail - which lasts a long time - and washing. I believe they are much more environmentally friendly. Flushible wipes, now, aren't compatible with septic systems. Neither is the menstrual flushibles. Neither are they really compatible with sewers & treatment plants, according to the Sewage Treatment industry workers.
My goodness. You all are really good commenters! (Commentators?).
Thanks, everyone.

 

[Archives1]

Hi AlasSouth, I know that old everybody should pay their fair share ploy!!! If you don't then that's socialism. Uh-huh!!! If I had a nickel for every time I heard that...... especially these days, where everybody is so afraid we're headed toward socialism and thence onto communism. There is a morning DJ here in Orlando (Sunny 105.9)who rants and raves every morning the same vituperative nonsense that this country will be going the way of Cuba in the next week or two!!!
I swear this guy gets so heated up he is going to pop a blood vessel one of these days.
And yes, don't get me wrong but without taxes we would have no services, the roads won't be maintained and public facilities will go to pot and trash and garbage won't be collected. Taxes are a necessary evil and if they go to good uses we can live with that. But once again, incontinence products, baby diapers and feminine products should not be taxed as they are totally necessary and many who use them are definitely pinching their pennies to afford an adequate supply to stay healthy and socially acceptable.
As for using cloth diapers in this day and age, if the only place to get them was mail order from the Sears catalog, where would somebody get them now??? I don't know of a single Sears store that's in business any more. They used to be all over the place. There was one in the mall that's 10 miles from where I live and that closed a couple of years ago.
As an aside, a thick Sears catalog used to be a necessary item found right inside the ol' outhouse (with the quarter moon cut-out in the door). The catalogs weren't for ordering things but were there instead of bathroom tissue, luxury item though it is!!!!

 

[Archives1]

billiveshere, I bought my cloth baby diapers at J.C. Penney's in Colorado in the 1960s. Today they are available through Amazon, Walmart and a number of other online stores. But there were no toy stores per se either in the 1960s so I ordered Christmas toys from the special Christmas Sears catalog for my four children. When I was first pregnant in 1959 we lived outside Kingston, New York and there were no stores that sold maternity clothes. I got a McCall's pattern and made my own. I don't know what other women did at that time but in my mother's time poor women just didn't go out if they were pregnant. I think it's wonderful today that women don't wear strictly "maternity clothes." they just wear whatever and don't try to hide the fact that they're having a baby.I remember even in the 1950s nobody ever used the word "pregnant", it had a sex act connotation! And I loved hanging the fresh washed cloth diapers on the clotheslines to dry. They always smelled so nice. We did go through a lot of awful stiff plastic diaper cover panties that were noisy and always leaked. Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end---------