Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed two bills Tuesday that would have lifted taxes on diapers, tampons and other feminine hygiene products.
So, women and families in California will continue to pay the taxes for these items. But how much are those taxes really costing Californians?
According to babycenter.com, owned by Johnson and Johnson, a typical family with one baby will pay a total of about $50 every month for disposable diapers.
California's base state sales tax is 7.5 percent, the highest in the country, which means an average family could pay roughly $3.50 every month - or $42 every year - in state sales taxes on diapers.Municipalities also can charge taxes, so that puts the total sales tax bill at 10 percent.
As a result, families could be paying roughly $4.55 a month in total taxes on diapers, or $54.60 every year.
What about women's hygiene products?
A box of tampons costs a total of about $7, that includes about 49 cents in state sales tax. If a woman uses 12 boxes of tampons in a year, she will have paid about $5.88 in state sales tax.
With municipal sales taxes the total sales tax bill for a box of tampons could be 65 cents, which is $7.80 annually -- or about the cost of one box of tampons.
Assembly Member Cristina Garcia said women in California spend about $20.2 million annually on sales taxes for tampons and sanitary napkins.
The Sacramento Bee wrote that eliminating state sales taxes on tampons and feminine hygiene products would have cost the state $10 million in revenue this budget year; eliminating the diaper tax would have cost $35 million annually in state and local revenue.
In his veto message Gov. Brown said the two bills, along with the other five pieces of legislation that were axed on Tuesday, would have reduced General Fund revenues by about $300 million through 2017-18.
Five states -- Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Jersey -- have already chosen to not tax tampons or any feminine hygiene products. In April, New York also moved to eliminate the tampon tax.
