Repeal the Pink Tax

Floor Speech

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Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, on the very last day of Women's History Month, I want to draw attention to the fact that there is an insidious form of gender discrimination that goes on in this country from cradle to grave. It is called the pink tax.

It costs more to be a woman. We have seen it happen over and over again, where retailers find it okay to jack up the prices for the same products just because they are being marketed to women.

A New York City Consumer Affairs study compared 800 products and found that they were 13 percent more for those that were virtually identical but provided for women. As I am going to show you today, we see the cost as much as 60 percent more for the same products being focused on women, but basically the same products.

We need to think no further than looking at haircuts, where a woman can't get a haircut for $26 like former Governor Scott Walker, who mocked one of our colleagues about the cost of her particular haircut.

Let's talk about retail sales. I had my office go online and do some online shopping. On Amazon, you can get this four-pack of Dove deodorant for women for $19.39, but the male version of this particular product is only $13.58 for a four-pack. That is a 60 percent cost differential, a 60 percent tax on women.

Here is a pack of probiotics from CVS for a woman. It costs $32.79. For a man, it costs $22.79. That is a 68 percent increase and a tax on women for the same product.

Then, we can move on to diapers. Believe it or not, diapers for girls cost more than diapers for boys. In fact, $37.79 for boys and $33.99 for girls.

Finally, my favorite is the teddy bears. If you go online and buy a pink teddy bear, you are going to pay a tax. It is $14.99. A blue teddy bear is only $12.30.

This is stupid. This is crazy. This is discrimination. It is time for us to deal with it, and there is a way to deal with it.

I have introduced the Pink Tax Repeal Act, which I am hopeful will be heard in the Energy and Commerce Committee. I am hopeful that, once and for all, we can do something about the fact that women pay more for the same goods and the same services.

In California, we have a law that I had passed many years ago that focused on services. The Assembly Office of Research found that women pay $1,300 more per year for services. It shouldn't be based on gender; it should be based on the amount of time it takes, whether it is a haircut or dry cleaning a shirt. We have seen over and over again that we pay more for the same service as well.

Colleagues, I hope that on this very last day of Women's History Month, we remember this for the rest of the year, that women pay more for the same goods and services, and that should be against the law.

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