The Iowa House voted Wednesday to “wipe away the stain of sales tax” on toilet paper purchases, as Rep. Christian Hermanson, R-Mason City, said during debate.
House File 1019 passed the House on a vote of 82-11 and moves to the Senate. If signed into law, the bill would take effect July 1.
The measure would cost the state an estimated $6 million in estimated general fund receipts in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, growing to a total of $6.5 million a year by 2030, according to a fiscal analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency.
The local option sales tax revenues collected by local governments and the 1-cent sales tax that goes to Iowa schools each would decline by just over $1 million a year, LSA estimated. The bottom line: A total savings of $9.1 million annually for consumers by 2030.
Hermanson noted that the state also exempts sales taxes on other necessities such as food and medicine.
“The bill recognizes toilet paper is not a luxury, it’s not a choice, it’s a necessity. And I think we can all agree, taxing it stinks,” he said.
Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, D-Hiawatha, rolled with the puns, adding that it was “time that we flush away this sales tax on toilet paper.”
The bill is one of several proposals this session to remove the sales tax from the purchase of household necessities, such as tampons, soap and laundry detergent. A separate bill removing the tax from vitamins and minerals also passed the House on Wednesday.
This story is courtesy of Iowa Capital Dispatch
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