DENVER — A proposal that would remove local sales tax from all feminine products sold within the city and county of Denver passed its first reading before City Council Monday night.
The ordinance, which would exempt feminine hygiene products from the collection of sales and use tax in the City and County of Denver, was introduced earlier this month.
Only the city’s 4.3-percent sales tax would be removed. Consumers would still pay other taxes on feminine hygiene products.
If given final approval, it would take effect on July 1, 2019.
A bill that would have removed taxes at the state level was killed in 2017. At the time, the state Demographer's Office said that Colorado had about 1.5 million menstruating females who spend about $60 a year on feminine hygiene products.
Meanwhile, a new bill introduced in the Colorado House of Representatives would require local and county jails to provide menstrual hygiene products for free to inmates. Currently, jail inmates are required to order tampons through commissary, and then wait for the shipment.
Two years ago, state lawmakers approved $40,000 in the Department of Corrections budget to go toward tampons in state prisons. This new bill would provide them in jails as well.
