When we think of all the basic needs of a person, we tend to assume that those needs be met and satisfied without a problem; but what if some people want to make a quick dollar off of our basic needs?

That’s exactly what is happening at the moment with the so called, “Tampon tax.”

It unjustly taxes purchases made on feminine personal products.

Besides the bother of having to pay x amount more for the tampons the tax is only implemented on feminine products.

The taxes also add up especially for people living under the poverty line or on a tight budget.

The Washington Post estimated that a woman who spends about $7 on tampons and other feminine hygiene products will have spent over “20 million annually in taxes” over 40 years, the estimated time frame a woman would need these products.

Aside from the financial strain it puts on people that are forced to buy taxed feminine products, the tax also carries a sexist undertone with it, why only feminine products?

Why are products that are seen as a basic need roughly on the same level as groceries, taxed like a luxury item?

Are these products not seen as such in the same light, and by suggesting this are we still clinging on to the dated, sexist thinking of the 60’s?

The reasoning behind this decision to tax tampons as a luxury item and not as a necessity is because tampons and the like fall into the “tangible personal property.”

This category much like a cell phone or a backpack, you know things you can buy but you don’t really need, cause you know, when a woman is having her period she don’t need a tampon or anything else you just want it, uh huh right.

Luckily there is a bill introduced by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia that would have this downright ridiculous tax removed from the purchase of tampons.

This bill would remove the tax on these items and stores would sell these items tax free, like other necessities.

Unfortunately this bill would only remove the tampon tax in California, not in the other 37 states that implement this tax.

Hopefully, people begin to rally around this cause and realize that the state cannot make money off of the needs of people, the health of the American populace is not for sale and it should never be.