From the Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial board on January 28, 2018:
As a general rule, taxes ought to serve a single function: raising revenue for the government. Lawmakers should not use the tax code as a vehicle for social engineering — giving favorable tax treatment to some constituents and activities and disfavoring others.
In Virginia, though, that horse left the barn long ago. So legislation before the General Assembly aimed at “menstrual equity” deserves approval. The bills would make tampons and sanitary pads more readily available in schools and correctional institutions, and would exempt them from the sales tax.
Advocates say the products are a necessity — which indeed they are. And if need justifies a tax exemption, then the case for exempting hygiene products certainly equals or outweighs the case for many other items that currently are exempt from Virginia’s sales tax, such as gold bullion; rabbits, quail, and llamas; eggs sold at roadside stands; firewood; and suborbital space facilities and space propulsion systems. (We don’t want people skipping over the border to buy their suborbital space facilities in North Carolina, after all.)
Read the rest of the editorial here.
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