• Motto

California Lawmakers Want to Tax Booze Instead of Tampons

1 minute read

A California lawmaker has a proposal on the table to get rid of the state’s “tampon tax.”

In September, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have eliminated sales tax on menstrual products, saying that the measure would cost the state too much money. But Democratic State Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, who co-sponsored the proposal that Brown vetoed, has a new plan. She wants to tax alcohol so the state can afford to stop taxing pads, tampons and other feminine hygiene products, the Washington Post reports.

The new measure, Assembly Bill 479, would increase the state’s liquor tax from $3.30 per gallon to $4.50.

“Common sense is that liquor is a choice and a luxury and human biology is not,” Garcia said in a statement. “There is no happy hour for menstruation. Our tax code needs to reflect the fact that it’s not ok to tax women for being born women.”

[The Washington Post]

More Must-Reads From TIME

Write to Samantha Cooney at samantha.cooney@time.com