The city of Pueblo will stop taxing essential hygiene products in 2023

Buying essential hygiene products is unavoidable for many women, new parents and people with disabilities, but the costs add up: Diapers cost approximately $80 a month and period products are approximately $15 a month.

City council voted 6-1 Monday night to stop collecting city sales tax on period products, diapers and incontinence products. The city is following in the footsteps of the Colorado legislature, which passed a bill ending the taxes on these products earlier this year.

The state and city sales tax exemptions will not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2023, but Pueblo County will also need to act to fully eliminate the sales tax in Pueblo.

Of the 7.6% sales tax paid upon purchase of most goods within Pueblo city limits, 2.9% goes to the state of Colorado, 3.7% goes to the city and 1% goes to Pueblo County.

Until county commissioners move to also lift the sales tax, Puebloans will still pay a 1% sales tax on essential hygiene products.

Pueblo commissioners are expected to discuss the topic in an executive session Thursday, according to the meeting agenda.

Commissioner Garrison Ortiz was not available to comment for this story but previously told the Chieftain that the county needs to explore the financial impact.

The tax break on these products is estimated to decrease the city’s sales tax revenue by $250,000 annually, which represents 0.38% of the city’s revenue, according to the background paper.

Pueblo women showed their support

Council member Sarah Martinez introduced the measure, which received overwhelming support during public comment from local high school students, a new mother and a nonprofit leader.

“I think everybody has felt the sting of going to the grocery store, purchasing just the basic needs and necessities for our children. This tax break would really help (parents) like me,” said Patience Ruiz, who came to the meeting with her daughter, Rainey.

Jade Moore is a junior at Pueblo County High School. She helped lead an effort to bring free period products in the school’s bathrooms and talked about how periods are stigmatized around the world.

More:Student initiative brings free menstrual products to Pueblo County High School

“Tampons, pads, diapers and other products have been associated with being a luxury product, but in all actuality, it’s a basic necessity,” Moore said to city council, adding that the tax break would have the greatest benefit to people experiencing homelessness.

Brandi Adakai, the community director for the Rocky Mountain Empowerment Center in Pueblo, testified that many of the clients at the food pantry ask about essential hygiene products. She asked council to drop the taxes so the products can be “more affordable for minority community members here in Pueblo.”

Most councilors voiced their enthusiasm for the measure and expressed support for the public speakers.

“The young ladies that came and spoke tonight: You are excellent speakers and it was very brave of you to come up and speak to periods,” said Council President Heather Graham.

“I'm very proud of the women who came to speak, and you shouldn't even have to come to speak in favor of something like this,” Councilor Larry Atencio said. “It should be automatic, with no discussion. Every single one of us should vote it in — period.”

“Well, I haven’t had a period in 12 years, and just talking about this made me feel bloated and cranky,” Councilor Lori Winner joked.

Council member Regina Maestri cast the only dissenting vote.

“Equality and women's equal rights are very important. To me, this takes a step backwards to say, ‘Because I'm a woman, I'm not needing to pay the tax.’ That, to me, is a break in the chain,” Maestri said.

Martinez said that she disagreed “full heartedly” with Maestri — she pointed out that food and medicine are also exempt from sales taxes.

“I know as a single mother what I had to do and had to provide for my family, and I still paid the taxes in order to do that,” Maestri said.

A few local governments in Colorado had already moved to exempt some essential hygiene products from sales taxes before the bill was signed into law, such as Denver, Aurora and Fort Collins. Larimer County commissioners voted in October to also exempt hygiene products from the county’s 0.8% sales tax.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo will stop taxing menstrual products, diapers in 2023