By Jennifer Fernandez
Key Takeaways:
A group of High Point University students is preparing to urge Congress to end state and local sales taxes on menstrual products.
Eighteen states, including North Carolina, still tax period products.
Advocates say tax exemptions and wider access to free supplies could help address period poverty and stigma.
High Point University senior Tatum James and three classmates spent about 10 minutes on Monday trying to convince former High Point Mayor Jay Wagner to support legislation forbidding states from taxing products to help women manage their menstrual cycles.
“In our research, we found that currently 32 states have exempted menstrual products from taxation,” James told Wagner, who played the role of a Republican member of Congress, allowing students to practice their pitches on him before heading to Washington, D.C., on Nov. 18 to make their case to federal lawmakers.
“Of those states that do exempt it, it’s only a 0.05 percent loss in their revenue, which makes it, you know, a basic rounding error for those states,” James said. That rounding error is super small for states but big for their residents, she argued.
“Our goal is to remove, at the federal level, state and local sales tax from menstrual products, and we’re hoping that you’ll introduce our legislation in the next congressional session,” she added.
The practice session was attended by James and teammates Hayley Martin, Lindsey Radano and Henry Rigden-Hodge, all part of Brandon Lenoir’s strategic communications class at High Point University.
Every semester, Lenoir has students pick an issue and advocate for it before congressional members. Health issues made up half of the topics this year. One group is arguing for legislation guaranteeing paid parental leave. Another group wants lawmakers to build better guardrails for kids using social media. Non-health topics deal with Flock surveillance cameras, national park maintenance and transparency in differences in funding between girls’ and boys’ sports in K-12 systems.
James said her group focused on period poverty because it affects so many people. There are more than 78 million women of childbearing age in the U.S., meaning they are in the reproductive window to have a period, according to 2025 census estimates.
Michelle Schaefer is founder and CEO of the Diaper Bank of North Carolina, which oversees the state’s program to put free feminine hygiene products in public schools. She loves what the students are doing.
“It’s fabulous on many levels,” she said. “The more people that are talking about this issue, the more that we destigmatize period poverty — and what half the population is experiencing in the U.S.”
Growing momentum
In the United States, a third of teens report missing at least 15 minutes of class because they couldn’t access period products, according to the latest survey by the nonprofit Period. Two in five people with periods struggle to afford feminine hygiene products, according to another nonprofit, the Alliance for Period Supplies.
Groups like the Diaper Bank of NC have helped by making free period supplies available to students in schools and to women in need in the community. They’ve also advocated for dropping the state sales tax on period products.
There has been growing momentum across the country to end sales taxes on menstrual products. At least one state has eliminated that tax every year since 2016, according to data compiled by Alliance for Period Supplies. But 18 states — including North Carolina — still tax period products.
North Carolina lawmakers introduced a handful of bills to change that this session, but none has passed. The bipartisan House Bill 1200, the “Tax-Free Family Essentials Act,” made it through the state House of Representatives. But the bill sits stagnant in a state Senate committee and is unlikely to be heard before the current session ends.
Federal lawmakers this year introduced a broad health care bill — the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026 — that includes a section on “menstrual equity.” Under that section, federal funding would be used to provide free period products in elementary and middle schools and other areas, such as prisons and federal buildings, as well as through federal programs such as Medicaid.
The bill also includes a provision that would make it unlawful for states or local governments to tax menstrual products.
While the Senate version stalled in the finance committee, the House version was referred on Sept. 29 to the Subcommittee on Health.
James’ group plans to ask federal lawmakers to introduce legislation in the next session of Congress.
Prepping for The Hill
“We’re trying to make it a federal law because you shouldn’t go from one state to the next and have to pay taxation on menstrual products if it affects women in all 50 states,” James said during Monday’s presentation.
Radano, who is from Philadelphia, told Wagner that she doesn’t pay tax for period products when she is home. Pennsylvania treats these items as paper products, similar to toilet paper, and hasn’t taxed them since 1991, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies.
“When I come to North Carolina, I now am spending extra money every single time I buy that because it’s taxed here, but not in Pennsylvania,” Radano said. “It’s a burden that I face every month.”
Imagine how much harder that is for people who are struggling financially, she said.
The group argued that it isn’t fair that some women have to pay more for period products just because of where they live.
Wagner advised the students not to focus on fairness when making their pitch to Republican lawmakers. They’ll be more receptive if it is framed as a benefit to families, especially families that don’t have a lot of money, he said.
From left: High Point University students Henry Rigden-Hodge, Tatum James, Hayley Martin and Lindsey Radano pose for a photo. The group wants federal lawmakers to ban states from taxing period products. They’re heading to Washington, D.C., on Nov. 18 to pitch their plan as part of a strategic communications course on advocacy at High Point University. Credit: Jennifer Fernandez / NC Health News
Lenoir suggested focusing on the aspect of period products being health care and a necessity.
Many states have reclassified menstrual products as health necessities rather than luxury goods, making them exempt from sales tax, according to The Sales Tax People, which tracks sales tax news in the U.S.
Wagner also said students should expect Republican lawmakers to ask why the issue should be addressed at the federal level, and not at the state or local level.
“Who really should have control over this issue? You know, I’ve got the war in Iran to think about, and I got, you know, defense spending, and why am I talking to a bunch of ladies about tampons?” Wagner said, channeling the way a lawmaker thinks. “It’s a hard enough issue for a man to talk about anyway.”
The Diaper Bank’s Schaefer agreed; period products are one of the hardest things to talk about because there’s still a lot of stigma around the topic.
More than 60 percent of teens surveyed for Period’s “State of the Period 2025” said that society teaches people to be ashamed of their periods. Nearly eight in 10 (77 percent) said they hide period products when walking out of class to go to the bathroom.
The persistent stigma is one reason the Diaper Bank holds a “Period Prom” every year to raise awareness, Schaefer said.
“It’s taking the power back about this issue and talking about it loudly,” she said.
High Point University students put together a one-page fact sheet and a nearly 20-page white paper full of research on period poverty and the effect of taxing period products on people who menstruate. The students are taking their research and their pitch to Washington, D.C., on Nov. 18. Credit: Jennifer Fernandez / NC Health News
‘An important skill’
Lenoir’s students got a chance to pitch their ideas Wednesday in front of a local Democrat.
They’ll use input from the dress rehearsals to fine-tune their pitches and update their one-page fact sheets and white papers full of research.
Lenoir has taught the class at HPU since he arrived 12 years ago. He created it when he was working at Oklahoma State University.
High Point University professor Brandon Lenoir
“Throughout our lives we advocate, whether it’s formally or informally,” he said. “In the workplace, within our relationships, whether it’s to get a raise, to get a job, to get into graduate school — we sell ourselves.
“It’s just an important skill, a life skill, for many of these students.”
The class also demystifies the political process, he said.
“If you know your issue, understand the implications of what you’re advocating for, you’ll be taken seriously,” he said. “You don’t have to be a paid lobbyist to get the attention of members of Congress.”
He said some students become so passionate about their issue that they track the progress on their legislation long after leaving his class — even periodically sending him updates.
Last semester, one group had two U.S. representatives agree to introduce their model legislation as a bill, Lenoir said. Others have been able to get extra cosigners for existing legislation, with the goal to get the bill moving, he said. Oftentimes, bills get sent to a committee and just sit there.
He wasn’t surprised that students picked health-related topics this semester.
“Health care is one of the biggest issues that this country is facing,” he said.
The combination of an aging population, shrinking workforce and declining birth rate brings into question the solvency of programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which will likely affect their family members, Lenoir said.
The advocacy class, he said, gives students a chance to have “a voice in what happens moving forward.”
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