Starting Wednesday, Colorado will now not cost a gross sales tax on diapers, incontinence merchandise and menstrual merchandise because of a legislation which was signed by Gov. Jared Polis earlier this yr.
The legislation is a part of an initiative to avoid wasting Coloradans cash in 100 methods.
"This new bi-partisan legislation lastly ends the gross sales tax on diapers and female hygiene merchandise completely and begins saving individuals cash on these essential merchandise," Polis stated in information launch Monday.
In accordance with the Ladies's Basis of Colorado, people spend about $15 per 30 days on interval merchandise. For diapers, households pay near $75 a month per youngster. The state estimates the laws will save Coloradans a mixed $9.1 million yearly.
"Eliminating the sale taxes on diapers, interval, and incontinence merchandise will assist enhance the affordability of those important gadgets in a time the place inflated costs are hitting working households laborious," stated state Rep. Susan Lontine, who sponsored the invoice.
The legislation additionally works to take away the stigma related to interval merchandise and different important items, stated state Rep. Leslie Herod, one other sponsor of the invoice.
"Eliminating the gross sales and use tax on interval merchandise, diapers and incontinence merchandise makes these important merchandise extra accessible and saves Coloradans cash after they want it essentially the most," Herod stated. "Our legislation additionally paves the best way in the direction of destigmatizing hygiene merchandise that thousands and thousands of individuals depend on each day."
In a research commissioned by Thinx and PERIOD, researchers discovered that one in 5 American teenagers struggles to afford menstrual merchandise. The research additionally reported that 84% of scholars have or know somebody that has missed class time as a result of they didn't have entry to interval merchandise.
Lawmakers who sponsored the invoice are hoping the tax exemption on these requirements will enable individuals to entry them extra simply.
"That is about dignity," state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis stated within the assertion. "The extra we are able to make these merchandise inexpensive, the extra entry people should these important merchandise, and the extra money people throughout our state will save."