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It's easy, get rid of the tampon tax! Stop taxing tampons as luxuries, and let families relying on food stamps also purchase tampons with them. Give them away in public restrooms to the women who need them at an inconvenient time. Every woman gets her period, it's a beautiful thing, so let's stop treating it like it's disgusting.

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Dismayed by the failure to abolish the five percent luxury tax on tampons and sanitary towels in Parliament last week women from Dartford's Labour Party have launched a drive to encourage other women to donate women's products to other women in need.

Last week, MPs voted in the House of Commons to remove the tax on sanitary products, further to a petition with more than 250,000 signatures led by Labour MP, Paula Sheriff and backed by Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell MP, which brought the debate to Parliament to remove the tax on sanitary products as 'luxury items'.

However, the amendment failed, with sanitary products remaining as 'luxury' items and a five percent tax, while items such a Jaffa Cakes, pitta bread and herbal tea are not subject to a tax at all.

Vice Chair of Campaigns, Kelly Grehan said 'We believe strongly that the Labour Party should be a social movement for good. We are aware of the difficulties people have providing food and heating for their families, but because of the taboo which still surrounds periods little focus has been placed on the difficulties some women have meeting the financial costs that accompany menstruation. We thought it would be good to highlight this issue and provide some help where we can.'

Shadow Deputy Leader of Dartford Borough Council and Littlebrook Councillor Daisy Page said 'I was so angered to hear of the defeat of this amend in the Commons last week. I cannot believe that anyone can classify sanitary products a 'luxury' good. They are a necessity for menstruating women. These are not cheap items'.

'I hope that this drive and campaign will help families who are struggling with the costs of everyday items, who are living with the financial reality of this government who continue to make life difficult for working families, for example with the Tax Credit cut that will cut the income of 4,000 families in Dartford'.

'Li-Lets have kindly agreed to donate to our cause some money off vouchers, which we shall distribute along with all other donations to local food banks and women's refuges. We shall also be in touch with other sanitary product providers to see what they can offer our campaign'

To make a donation, please come to Dartford Labour Party Office, 99 Kent Road, Dartford on Saturday 14th November from 10am - 12pm. For more information or if you have any further questions, please contact Cllr Daisy Page on telephone number 07943 499100 or email daisy.page@dartford.gov.uk

All donations will be given to the food bank and women's refuge.

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Dartford Labour Press release: Dartford Labour Women launch campaign against the 'Tampon Tax' | Dartford Living

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Dismayed by the failure to abolish the five percent luxury tax on tampons and sanitary towels in Parliament last week women from Dartford's Labour Party have launched a drive to encourage other women to donate women's products to other women in need. Last week, MPs voted in the House of Commons to remove the tax ...

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Apart from being a flagrant reminder of one's youth and fertility, being on your period is never fun. Blood gloops out of your vagina, often with little warning, and is often accompanied with excruciating cramps that make you see stars. Then you have to shove a little cotton stick up there to avoid, y'know, embarrassing yourself in public and not soaking and staining every piece of material you come into contact with. Despite this monthly saga being an unavoidable part of being a woman with a womb, our biological cycle is, effectively, taxed.

HM Revenue and Customs categorize tampons as "non-essential luxury items," unlike alcoholic jellies, kangaroo meat, and edible sugar flowers-all of which are considered essential to the well-being of the community. Of course, if women avoided sanitary ware and actually did just allow themselves to bleed everywhere, there would be chaos. Public transport would be a nightmare-not sure how you'd get the deep, claret stains out of those fuzzy seats on the Tube-and we'd have to buy new clothes every single month.

Paying tax for being a biological woman is not only absurd, it's unapologetically sexist.

In June last year, Goldsmiths student Laura Coryton started an online campaign to stop taxing periods, which has since reached 217,143 signatures of the intended 300,000 goal (you can sign the petition here). Last week, Laura and her friend Lucy Lu started a Facebook event, inviting supporters to march from 10 Downing Street in fake blood-covered knickers to "show your support to ensure the mighty tampon, sanitary towel and maternity pad are VAT free this election. Tampons not a necessity? Then welcome to the world where we don't wear them."

I didn't have the time or materials to dress up as a period, but I wasn't lacking in spirit, so a photographer and I went to Downing Street to join the march.

What we didn't expect was to arrive to a swarm of 16-year-old girls singing Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, their tampon earrings swinging from their ears as they downed cheap cider. I was clearly the oldest person there, it being 5.30PM on a weekday, but it was busy nonetheless.

Organizer Lucy Lu [pictured above], who was handing out fake blood-soaked knickers to protesters, told VICE, "I was walking down the street and a homeless girl came up to me and said, 'Could I have a tampon?' I thought that was outrageous-tampons should be free on the NHS. Then I started looking into it and I couldn't believe that tampons were still taxed. If HMRC think that they're not an essential, then we're not going to wear them. That's the idea behind the protest," she explained.

"I want more publicity, especially in the run up to the election," she added. Hardly any MPs have said anything about it. Nick Clegg said that it wasn't in his manifesto, Nigel Farage said he'd think about it, and David Cameron has always avoided the subject. It's a health issue, not a women's issue."

I spoke to Indigo [pictured above], who had travelled from Berkshire to attend. "When you realize that Jaffa Cakes, bingo, betting, exotic meats, and men's razors are all taxed as necessities, it makes you baffled as to why women's hygiene products are considered 'luxury,'" she said. "The average woman menstruates for 20 to 30 years, so a 5 percent taxation really does add up. It's crazy that men are deciding what are necessities for women."

There were about four men that turned up, one of whom was Oisin [pictured above]. "I'm here because I heard about it from my girlfriend, and I think it's disgusting to tax something that's a necessity for a lot of people's lives. I want to show my disdain, in the hope that the government will listen."

Kareen [pictured above] told VICE: "It's ridiculous that we're taxed for having vaginas. This is such an outdated thing. I know it's going to be hard to get the tax taken off, because of the EU law, but I think the best thing would be if the NHS offered tampons or free pads for people."

After about an hour of chanting "We will bleed!" and "Don't tax our Tampax!' the crowd decided to march down to Parliament Square to roll about in the grass. At this point, the pervasive press presence decided to disperse, while protestors took selfies. "I'm going to put this as my cover photo," I overheard someone who was dressed to the nines in ketchup say.

Eventually, security ushered everybody off the grass and the protest drew to a close. Despite it resembling an al fresco house party towards the end, it was exciting to be around people who were actually trying to do something about the fact that half the population are being taxed for something that is biologically impossible to prevent. I suppose that's what happens when 75 percent of our parliament are men and they can't even say the word "tampon" out loud.

Follow Daisy on Twitter.

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We Went to Yesterday's Tampon Tax March in London

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Apart from being a flagrant reminder of one's youth and fertility, being on your period is never fun. Blood gloops out of your vagina, often with little warning, and is often accompanied with excruciating cramps that make you see stars.

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End Restroom Inequality, Free The Tampons: FreeTheTampons.org

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Free The Tampons is a national campaign to make feminine products freely accessible in every restroom-launched at Tedx by Nancy Kramer.

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In overdue news, two California lawmakers say it's time for their state to end the "tampon tax."

Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) kicked off the first day of the 2016 legislative session last week by introducing AB 1561, a measure to make feminine hygiene products exempt from sales tax in the state. This proposed law, joint-authored by Ling Ling Chang (R-Diamond Bar), would classify tampons, sanitary pads and other feminine hygiene products as medical necessities.

If the legislation is successful, California would join the ranks of just a handful of other states, including Maryland and New Jersey, that don't impose a sales tax on menstrual products.

"It's about the health of women," Chang tells USA TODAY College via email. "By taxing these products we are putting up an unnecessary barrier to a necessary health product. Women without access to hygiene products are prone to serious health issues."

The effort to axe the so-called "tampon tax" has gained support from Republicans and Democrats alike.

"This is not a partisan issue," Chang wrote. "We all care about the interests of women. They are our mothers, sisters, daughters, wives."

For one California college student, this change can't come fast enough.

"A few dollars in tax may not seem like much, but it certainly adds up for college students who have to purchase tampons on a regular basis," says Rachel Maples, a junior at the University of California-Los Angeles.

Maples says if she didn't have to pay a tax on feminine hygiene products, it would free up more money in her budget for other necessities, like groceries and gas.

But Maples isn't the only one to feel the burden of the "tampon tax." Women in California collectively pay an estimated $20 million in taxes annually on feminine hygiene products, Chang says.

Women also spend about seven dollars a month on tampons and sanitary pads, according to a press release from Garcia's office.

"The 'tampon tax' discriminates against anyone who experiences periods simply because it makes them pay more for necessity items," Maples says. "The 'tampon tax' especially hurts poor and homeless women for whom tampons are just as necessary, but not as easily accessed and afforded."

As a Maryland resident, Rebecca Newkirk doesn't pay sales tax on her feminine hygiene products, and she thinks being the exception is simply "not fair."

"It's an added expense that only certain people have to pay, and periods are already so stigmatized in society," Newkirk, a University of Maryland senior, says. "You can get condoms for free at a lot of places, so why not feminine hygiene products?"

Although legislation for free tampons has yet to be proposed in California, Chang - who is focused on building a broader coalition of support with Garcia - says she hopes to see AB 1561 signed into law by September.

Sara Dignan is a University of Maryland student and a USA TODAY College correspondent.

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Ramsey Touchberry, University of Florida

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California lawmakers want to end the tax on your period

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In overdue news, two California lawmakers say it's time for their state to end the "tampon tax." Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) kicked off the first day of the 2016 legislative session last week by introducing AB 1561, a measure to make feminine hygiene products exempt from sales tax in the state.

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Hi,

I’m your older cousin

You know me

We’ve been close

You’re like my little sister

Here’s the thing

You are beautiful and strong

Wise and smart

The most amazing little girl I have ever met

But

Someday you’re going to get your period

And you’re going to be scared

But I want you to know

It’s not disgusting

It's expensive

It’s taxed

It’s a “luxury”

It’s healthy

It’s necessary

And sometimes you’re going try to get it to go away

But no matter what you should know that

You are the most amazing little girl I have ever met,

And I’m going to change the world for you.

because there are so many things wrong
you deserve the world that we always dreamed of
the best environment
no discrimination

So I will change the world for you

Because I want you

To have the best world

And the best life

Enjoying everything

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Dear Government,
You've heard the spiel about this hundreds of times, maybe thousands of times. You may listen to me, you may not. The world needs to see change. If you are not working towards it, you do not progress.
Bias against women is prominent in our society, in recent years women have been more open with their experiences regarding catcalling and sexual abuse and harassment, simply for being women. There may be progress here then please explain why committees have voted against the removal of the tampon tax (End the Tampon Tax). If you do not remove the tampon tax then women in California will continue to spend $7 per month on feminine hygiene products (End The Tampon Tax). The luxury tax on tampons is unnecessary, by that logic you should choose to tax toilet paper too right? if something that is needed as much as feminine hygiene products are taxed, something, as needed as toilet paper, should be too.
Consider the stigma you are adding to. Consider all the little girls who will think it is shameful to have her period. Consider all the men who you will allow to think that periods are gross. Consider all the people you continue to oppress with the tampon tax.
I call on you now state representatives, to make the right decision. To start the end of the oppression of women and girls in all parts of your state.
Thank you for your time,
Meredith Herrick.

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Sources Cited.

"Illinois advances bill to exempt tampons, similar products from sales tax." Chicago

Tribune, 10 Mar. 2016, www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/br eaking/ct-illinois-tampon-ta x-20160310-story.html.Accessed 3 Feb. 2018.

Kramer, Nancy, editor. "Free The Tampon." Free The Tampon, edited by Nancy

Kramer, www.freethetampons.org/ . Accessed 3 Feb. 2018.

Larimer, Sarah. "The ‘Tampon Tax,’ Explained." The Washington Post, 8 Jan.

2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/08/the-ta mpon-tax-explained/? utm_term=.1bbe5b31a89b.  Accessed 3 Feb. 2018.

Editorial Board. "End the Tampon Tax." New York Times, 8 Feb. 2016,

www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/opinion/end-the-tampon-tax.html?_r=0 . Accessed 3 Feb. 2018.
Ngabirano, Anne-Marcelle. “'Pink Tax' Forces Women to Pay More than Men.”USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 28 Mar. 2017, www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/03/27/pink-tax-forces-women-pay-more-than-men/99462846/

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Items like tampons should be exempt from luxury tax because tampons are not luxury items, and it adds to the inequity of the wage gap.

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While feminism seems to be on the rise in popularity, everyone can agree that some issues have been overlooked. Within the new political climate, it’s important not only to address the Abortion controversy, but also issues with the tampon tax and its origins. The tampon tax is slang for the luxury tax on tampons and pads. The tax means more than just adding a price onto the items, it means that food stamps don’t cover items like pads and tampons whereas items like toilet paper are covered. Items like tampons and pads should be exempt from luxury tax because these items are not luxuries, and It adds to the inequity of the wage gap.

Items like tampons and pads are currently being taxed as luxuries in many states, and they are not luxuries. In California this amounts to about $20 million dollars per year being made off of this specific tax (Larimer). This means that the state is profiting off of something that it not a “luxury” item. Tampons and pads are not like jewelry, taxing them as such adds to the stigma surrounding periods. In essence, tampons and pads are necessary items for women, a period cannot be avoided by women, it is a monthly occurrence that every woman aged 9-54 have to deal with and this tax on “luxury” items contributes to the wage gap because only women have to buy these items. The average cost per month for a woman in California is about $7 (Larimer). The high price can already be taxing, adding more onto the price can be detrimental. Therefore tampons and other items should not be taxed as luxuries.

The tampon tax is essentially another tax on women, which adds to the inequity of the wage gap. Women make an average of 79 cents to every dollar a man makes (End the Tampon Tax). Meaning that a woman is already earning less than men, along with the tampon tax costing so much this makes the gap of the amount a woman can keep in her pocket even more (if women's clothing had pockets, which is a whole other issue). Another point this brings up is the fact, that in chicago, the luxury sales tax is about 10.25% (Illinois advances bill to exempt tampons, similar products from sales tax.). This inadvertently makes a box of pads or tampons 10.25% more expensive, this may seem insignificant however, this adds up to $14.7 million dollars that the state makes annually in Illinois (Illinois advances bill to exempt tampons, similar products from sales tax.). This money that women are spending could go towards so much more than just feminine hygiene products. After seeing an add for the popular music streaming service spotify, there was an ipifony. A monthly spotify premium subscription for students, combined with a popular movie streaming service hulu is cheaper than the amount of money per month that women in california spend on feminine hygiene products alone (per month). No state should be profiting off the sexist act of taxing women for being women, and having periods. This fact adds to the already wide wage gap. Therefore, the tampon tax shouldn’t exist.

The other side of this argument may say that tampons are luxury items, and the states need the money that comes from the tax. This argument is flawed because by that logic toilet paper should also be taxed as a luxury, and so should the soap in public washrooms, because those are totally luxuries. The fact is a woman will not be able to control her period, and she will have her period for a great majority of her life (Kramer). When it comes to the tax depriving states of money, the question proposed is: how can states make up this money? The answer is they do not have to, if a politician is more worried about money than the good of the people, they should not be in office. The annual income from this tax is high, but should a state be relying on discriminatory taxes to make enough money? Additionally, there is always room for a tax cut, regarding things that the people don’t need, and increasing taxes on items in specific that would benefit the people, such as a sugary beverage tax. Showing how the argument of the other side is flawed and not based on evidence, purely on misinformation on how periods work, and the corrupt judgement of current politicians.

All in all the tampon tax should be removed, from the way it contributes to the wage gap, and mis-markets tampons as luxuries. There are many other issues take the forefront but the US population should not let this slip under the radar, and continue to be biased against women.