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On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown of California unwisely vetoed a bill that would have exempted tampons, pads and other menstrual products from the state’s 7.5 percent sales tax. The measure passed the state Legislature unanimously in August. But Governor Brown vetoed it along with six other tax bills, arguing that “tax breaks are the same as new spending” and should be considered during budget deliberations. The seven bills would have cut state revenue by around $300 million over the next two years, he said.

Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, a Democrat who co-sponsored the bill with a Republican, Ling Ling Chang, called Governor Brown’s rationale for the veto “an easy cop-out.”

“Saying that the measure should have been put in the budget is just side-stepping the fact that we shouldn’t be balancing the budget off half of the population,” she said in a statement to The Times.

The California bill was one of a number of measures around the country aimed at ending sales tax on tampons and pads. Similar bills passed this year in Illinois and New York.

Such measures do not create “tax breaks” for women. Rather, they remove the tax penalty women pay when the products they need for health and hygiene are subject to sales tax. Prescription drugs, including Viagra, and medical devices like walkers are already tax-exempt in California.

If the state is worried about the budget effect of ending the tampon tax, then it should be working to find ways to recoup the revenue in a manner that’s fair to all Californians.

Title:
Jerry Brown’s Disappointing Tampon Tax Decision