--- title: President Obama Doesn't Understand the Tampon Tax, Either description: He wasn't even aware of the issue until YouTube interviewer Ingrid Nilsen brought it to his attention canonical: https://time.com/4183108/obama-tampon-tax-sanitary/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-15T21:12:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:35.660Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Doesn't Understand the Tampon Tax, Either og:description: He wasn't even aware of the issue until YouTube interviewer Ingrid Nilsen brought it to his attention og:url: https://time.com/4183108/obama-tampon-tax-sanitary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d7ec496dcc80903/698879638e0601b30f46428b/487461415.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Energizer To Separate Into Two Publicly Traded Companies og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Doesn't Understand the Tampon Tax, Either twitter:description: He wasn't even aware of the issue until YouTube interviewer Ingrid Nilsen brought it to his attention twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d7ec496dcc80903/698879638e0601b30f46428b/487461415.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Doesn't Understand the 'Tampon Tax' Either > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 15, 2016 9:12 PM UTC  Energizer Holdings Inc. Playtex brand tampons sit on display in a supermarket in Princeton, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, April 30, 2014\. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images Energizer Holdings Inc. Playtex brand tampons sit on display in a supermarket in Princeton, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, April 30, 2014\. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 15, 2016 9:12 PM UTC President Obama said the existence of a “luxury goods” tax placed on feminine sanitary products like tampons and pads is likely due to the fact that men wrote the laws in an interview on Friday. YouTube personality Ingrid Nilsen asked President Obama why tampons were even considered “luxury goods” because few of the women she knows would consider menstruation a luxury. “I think Michelle would agree with you on that,” he said. “I have to tell you, I have no idea why states would tax these as luxury items,” Obama said Friday. “I suspect it’s because men were making the laws when those taxes were passed.” Obama said it’s “pretty sensible” for women in the [40 states](http://time.com/money/3907775/states-tax-tampons-candy-america/) where the items are taxed as luxury items to work on getting that changed. Because they’re state taxes, it will take action on a local level to get things changed. Last year ushered in a wave of interest in removing taxes on tampons and pads, leading Canada to remove a levy. A bill was also [introduced in California](http://www.newsweek.com/california-legislators-seek-end-tampon-tax-feminine-hygiene-products-412014) this week to eliminate the tax. The president also used the moment to plug his signature health care law, and the efforts therein to remove additional cost burdens women face when seeking care. “This raises a broader question that I’ve been working on since I came into office which was, how do we make sure that everybody has decent health care, preventive care and women in particular have the health care that they need,” he said. ‘The basic idea is that women should not be at a disadvantage in the health care system and this is just one more example of it, which I confess I was not aware of until you brought it to my attention.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4183108/obama-tampon-tax-sanitary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4183108/obama-tampon-tax-sanitary/"},"headline":"President Obama Doesn't Understand the 'Tampon Tax' Either","datePublished":"2016-01-15T21:12:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:35.660Z","description":"\"I suspect it's because men were making the laws when those taxes were passed\"","url":"https://time.com/4183108/obama-tampon-tax-sanitary/","keywords":["White House","Living","Health Care","Barack Obama","Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d7ec496dcc80903/698879638e0601b30f46428b/487461415.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6d7ec496dcc80903/698879638e0601b30f46428b/487461415.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Energizer To Separate Into Two Publicly Traded Companies","caption":"Energizer To Separate Into Two Publicly Traded Companies","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4183108/obama-tampon-tax-sanitary/","name":"President Obama Doesn't Understand the 'Tampon Tax' Either"}}]}] ```