Allow me to begin by expressing my complete disdain towards the gentrifying of colors. Why does a pigment of color have a gender assignment? Also, why is the color pink automatically assigned to identifying females? I just don’t understand how or why this came to be. If you identify as a female and like the color pink, cool. If you don’t identify as a female and like the color pink, cool and if you identify as a female and don’t like the color pink, still cool. Your gender identity and color preference have no correlation.
Anyways, the “Pink Tax” refers to the additional costs women consumers pay for the same personal care products and services that men also use and pay less for. For example, razors, deodorant, and even dry-cleaning prices fall under the Pink Tax. In addition to the monetary discrepancy for the shared personal products the two mainstream genders both utilize on a daily basis, there is also another unfair tax on women who use personal hygiene products such as pads or tampons.
In fact, for an average-women living in New York it will cost her about 7% more for those same products the male counterpart uses as well but what is even more troubling is the 13% tax rate on personal hygiene products. However, it is not just the women living in the state of New York who face this problem- it is the entire women population of the United States and India. Let us not forget the wage gap women already face as well. Therefore, not only are women statistically paid less, but they are also expected to pay more- pay more for products that men use just as equally and for products that are essential for a woman while she is on her period.
What is the under lying cause for this tax increase on women? Why is it apparently “more expensive to be a woman?” How has this discrimination continuously been justified? These are my three main questions, and I am having trouble finding the answers. My hypothesis is corporate collusion, or corruption rather. The good news is on April 3, 2019 the Pink Tax repeal Act (H.R. 2048) was introduced to Congress. Now is the time to ax the tax!