--- title: This Map Shows Which States Still Charge Sales Tax on Groceries, Diapers and Period Products description: More than half of U.S. states still charge sales tax on essentials like groceries, diapers, period products or all of the above. authors: - name: Mary Ellen Cagnassola role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/ bio: Mary Ellen (M.E.) Cagnassola is a former reporter at Money, where she covered Social Security, retirement, housing, and employment. Her work reflects her commitment to service and equity in consumer finance. education: Rutgers University, BA Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 205 covers: - Taxes - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping former_staff: true editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Taxes - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-05-10T16:13:32.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T14:48:14.000Z' section: Taxes tags: - News word_count: 855 canonical: https://money.com/states-sales-tax-groceries-diapers-period-products/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Collage of Grocery items: Period pad, diapers, shopping cart, and Grocery bag](https://img.money.com/2023/05/News-Grocery-Sales-Tax.jpg) Soaring inflation over the past two years has created financial strain for most Americans, perhaps none more so than those already paying a surcharge for necessities. Consumers and officials alike have pushed in recent years to eliminate or reduce [sales taxes](https://money.com/states-highest-lowest-no-sales-tax/) on some essentials — specifically, groceries, diapers and period products. But shoppers are still paying taxes on these purchases in many parts of the country. On top of surging prices at the grocery store, over a dozen U.S. states still charge a sales tax on food. Residents in 27 states pay anywhere from 4% to 7% in state sales taxes on diapers, and 21 states impose taxes on period products. ![Map graph of states that still charge sales taxe on groceries, diapers and period products](https://img.money.com/2023/09/News-Grocery-Sales-Tax-Map-2023.svg) ## States with sales tax on groceries, diapers and period products As our map shows, most states still charge sales tax on one or more of these essential products. People in Idaho and Mississippi fork over a standard 6% sales tax for groceries, the highest rate nationwide. Six states apply reduced sales tax rates for food, but Alabama, South Dakota, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, and Oklahoma currently impose a standard sales tax rate of 4% on groceries. Mississippi and Tennessee charge the highest base sales taxes on diapers at 7%. In 19 states, local taxes on diapers can edge even higher — up to an extraordinary 11% in Oklahoma and 10.9% in Missouri. Washington, Arizona, South Carolina, Kansas, Tennessee and Alabama allow local taxes on diapers to go as high as 9% to 10%. According to the Alliance for Period Supplies, many states tax period products — which cost an average $20 per cycle, according to the [National Organization for Women](https://now.org/blog/female-homelessness-and-period-poverty/#:~:text=The%20average%20woman%20spends%20about,few%20items%20per%20menstrual%20cycle.) — as luxury items with rates similar to makeup and electronics. Indiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi charge the country’s highest [“tampon tax”](https://money.com/cvs-cutting-prices-eliminating-tax-tampons/) of 7%. Meanwhile, five states have no sales tax at all: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. ## Push to cut sales tax on essentials The push to eliminate or lower sales taxes on groceries, diapers and period products has gained traction hand in hand with rising inflation, which has fluctuated from [9.1%](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/consumer-prices-up-9-1-percent-over-the-year-ended-june-2022-largest-increase-in-40-years.htm) at its June 2022 peak to [5%](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf) registered in March. The latest inflation numbers are the lowest since prices began escalating in mid-2021, but still make everyday goods unaffordable for many Americans, more than half of whom reported living [paycheck-to-paycheck](https://www.momentive.ai/en/blog/cnbc-financial-literacy-2023/) in March. Since 2021, seven states have exempted diapers from sales tax or lowered the rate. [North Dakota](https://www.ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-0448-02000.pdf) ended its diaper tax on June 30. Advocacy group [National Diaper Bank Network](https://nationaldiaperbanknetwork.org/diaper-tax/) tells Money it's supporting proposals to end diaper taxes in several other states — including Alabama, Tennessee, Kansas, South Carolina, Missouri, Georgia and South Carolina. Ten states have passed laws or amended their tax codes to reduce or eliminate taxes on period products, and 11 more are considering legislation to do the same this year, according to data from the [Alliance for Period Supplies](https://allianceforperiodsupplies.org/tampon-tax/), a sister organization to the National Diaper Bank Network. In June, Nevada passed a bill to exempt diapers from sales tax, and Texas did the same for both period products and diapers. Nevada residents will vote on the exemption next November in a ballot measure. Texas’ exemptions went into effect Sept. 1. While groceries are exempt from taxes in most of the country, seven states charge a standard sales tax rate on groceries and six impose reduced levies. This year, Kansas, Virginia, Illinois, Idaho, and Tennessee either eliminated or reduced sales taxes on groceries. Oklahoma, Hawaii, Missouri, Utah, Alabama and Kansas are either advancing legislation or considering proposals to reduce or eliminate grocery taxes. ## Impact of sales tax on essentials For the poorest Americans, the additional cost of sales taxes on essentials can be insurmountable, leading to or exacerbating hunger, obesity and other health problems, especially for young children. A [2021 study](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306919221000774) found that households were 3% more likely to experience food insecurity in states with a grocery sales tax of 4% compared to states without the tax. “These taxes are regressive and disproportionately impact low-wage families and those living in poverty as they pay a higher share of their income in taxes,” Joanne Samuel Goldblum, CEO of the National Diaper Bank Network and the Alliance for Period Supplies, tells Money. About one in three U.S. families can’t afford enough diapers, according to the National Diaper Bank Network, which estimates a month’s worth of diapers costs $70 to $80 per baby. Barriers to accessing essentials have educational consequences, too. [The Period Project](https://www.thepolicyproject.org/theperiodproject), an organization that facilitates access to period supplies, reports that 84% of students have missed class or know someone who has due to lack of access to period products. A [survey](https://allianceforperiodsupplies.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/U_by_Kotex_Period_Poverty_-_PPAW_Data_Set.pdf) released in 2021 by the brand U by Kotex found that more than a third of low-income people who menstruate report missing work, school or other events due to financial barriers to period products. *This story was updated on Sept. 13, 2023, to include legislative changes in Texas and Nevada.* [The 7 Most Popular Ways People Are Saving Money on Groceries Now](https://money.com/saving-money-on-groceries-strategies/) [Best Personal Loans of May 2023](https://money.com/best-personal-loans/) [Here's Where People Pay the Highest (and Lowest) Sales Tax in America](https://money.com/states-highest-lowest-no-sales-tax/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/states-sales-tax-groceries-diapers-period-products/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Taxes", "item": "https://money.com/taxes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Sales Tax", "item": "https://money.com/sales-tax/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This Map Shows Which States Still Charge Sales Tax on Groceries, Diapers and Period Products" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/states-sales-tax-groceries-diapers-period-products/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/states-sales-tax-groceries-diapers-period-products/", "name": "This Map Shows Which States Still Charge Sales Tax on Groceries, Diapers and Period Products", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-05-10T16:13:32.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/states-sales-tax-groceries-diapers-period-products/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/states-sales-tax-groceries-diapers-period-products/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T14:48:14.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "This Map Shows Which States Still Charge Sales Tax on Groceries, Diapers and Period Products", "articleSection": "Taxes", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/05/News-Grocery-Sales-Tax.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Grocery-Sales-Tax" }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/09/News-Grocery-Sales-Tax-Map-2023.svg", "width": 2000, "height": 2000 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Ellen Cagnassola", "url": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/#author", "description": "Mary Ellen (M.E.) 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