Ohio lawmakers consider eliminating sales tax on tampons

Once a month, for almost all of a woman's reproductive life, she'll have a period. To go to school and work and have a productive life, she'll need menstrual products like tampons.

Ohio currently imposes a sales tax on menstrual products; it doesn't consider them medically necessary. It's something most women find laughable.

That's why Ohio State Rep. Brigid Kelly from Cincinnatti co-sponsored legislation to eliminate the sales tax on tampons and other menstrual products.

"51 percent of Ohio's population is women, so this is something that would really impact a large number of people in the state," said the District 31 Democrat.

In the November 6 general election, Nevada voters made their state the tenth in the nation to eliminate a "tampon tax."

Kenya, Canada, India, Malaysia and Australia reportedly have stopped taxing menstrual products.

But the issue goes beyond the so-called "Pink Tax" which costs Ohio women an estimated $4 million a year.

"When more and more women and girls are becoming under housed and homeless, it's a growing concern in terms of public health, personal dignity and human rights," said Toledo attorney Sarah Skow.

Skow has launched a donation drive to collect menstrual products for low income and homeless women. You can find donation sites at the Facebook page

The donation drive runs until November 30th. This is the fourth year Skow has down this.

"Sometimes people choose between food and whether they can afford these items. Depending on the product, that's between $6 and $10 that you need every month," she said.

State representative Kelly says she knows of no organized opposition to eliminating the tampon tax. Still earlier efforts to get bills passed in Ohio haven't been successful.

"Having a period is perfectly normal and natural and we need these products for our everyday lives so to exempt them from the sales tax, is a really practical thing we can do for women in our state," says Kelly.

The proposal to exempt sales tax on menstrual products began life as a different bill. Currently, it's an amendment to

, another bill related to sales tax that was introduced by Port Clinton republican Steven Arndt.

But state lawmakers need to approve it before the end of the year, or the process starts all over.