Colorado to Stop Taxing Sales Tax on Diapers and Menstruation

Beginning on August 10, Colorado will stop collecting sales tax on diapers and menstruation products. About two months after Democratic governor of Colorado Jared Polis first approved a measure outlining the change, the policy is already in force.

The Women’s Foundation of Colorado found that the average family spends $15 per person per month on period products. Even more expensive are diapers, which may cost a family up to $75 per month for each child. According to Colorado Politics, the new adjustment will result in annual savings for Coloradans of almost $9M.

‘From now on in Colorado, there will no longer be state sales tax on diapers and feminine hygiene products,’ Gov. Polis said in an August 8 statement. ‘This new bi-partisan law finally ends the sales tax on diapers and feminine hygiene products permanently and starts saving people money on these necessary products.’

Researchers discovered that one in five American teens struggle to buy period products in a study funded by Thinx and PERIOD. According to the study, 84 percent of students have missed class themselves or know someone who has done so due to a lack of access to period products. The bill’s sponsors believe that by exempting these basics from taxes, more people will be able to obtain them.

“This is about dignity,” states Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis said in the statement. “The more we can make these products affordable, the more access folks will have to these essential products, and the more money folks across our state will save.”