A central Indiana Girl Scout made repealing the sales tax on menstrual products the goal of her Gold Award. With a “bleak” revenue forecast and the state’s constitutional requirement to pass a balanced budget, it’s unlikely the “period tax” will be repealed this session.
The Gold Award is one of Girl Scouts’ highest honors. It’s a service project that requires 100 hours of work to tackle a community issue. A Girl Scout from Puerto Rico created a campaign to highlight breast cancer awareness for men. Another from New York created an instrument lending library to make music more accessible to her community.
Only a little more than 5 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn their Gold Award.
Vera McConnell is a 16-year-old high school junior. She said she’s passionate about menstrual equality. McConnell worked with lawmakers, testified at the Statehouse and advocated to remove Indiana’s 7 percent sales tax on period products and adult diapers.
But when the Senate unveiled their version of the budget — they removed that provision.
“You would think that this would be common sense and so easy to undo,” McConnell said. “But it’s really not been. Which I find frustrating.”
Repealing the tax would cost Indiana about $11 million in revenue over the next two years.
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“I think it’s so unfair that half of our population is menstruating and still has to pay extra for products that are basically considered ‘luxury items’ — even though they are completely necessary,” McConnell said.
McConnell has support from Senate Democratic Leader Shelli Yoder (D-Bloomington). Yoder authored a bill this session — SB 173 — to repeal the tax. It was never heard in committee.
Yoder said Indiana has built a revenue source off of the fact that people have menstrual cycles.
“Couple that with the fact that incomes have not reached parity. That we take on more,” Yoder said. “That tax — that we pay — I think it makes it more profound.”
If a repeal of the “period tax” is left out of HB 1001, the state budget, McConnell said she can still earn her Gold Award and plans to continue to advocate.
“The more citizens know about [ the legislative process] and can contact their legislators, their representatives, will make a difference, I think,” McConnell said.
Nationally, 20 states charge sales tax on menstrual products — Indiana, Mississippi and Tennessee all charge the highest at 7 percent.
Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lauren@ipbnews.org or follow her on Bluesky at @laurenechapman.bsky.social .
