Florida moves to eliminate sales tax on diapers

Parents are about to get a break on the cost of an essential that has been going up in cost: diapers, which soon will be permanently exempted from sales tax in Florida.

The cost in lost revenue to the state is relatively small, while providing savings for moms and dads that could mean a lot to some families.

"This is a big deal," said Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book of Broward, who is ready to see the permanent exemption become law – six years after she first introduced it in the Florida Legislature, armed with first-hand information about the cost of diapers.

Book began her career in the state Senate when her twins, Kennedy and Hudson, were just two weeks old. "At that time, I was buying a lot of diapers and really understood what that meant," Book said.

Also gaining a permanent exemption from state sales tax: other baby and toddler products, such as cribs and strollers, and adult diaper and incontinence products. The changes are part of a package of tax law changes projected to save consumers and businesses $1.3 billion in Florida's next fiscal year.

The biggest tax break, totaling $256 million, is a reduction in the commercial-lease tax. The biggest estimated sales tax savings are the renewal of popular sales-tax "holidays" in which the levy isn't assessed on the purchase of specified products, such as disaster supplies before hurricane season, or clothes and supplies before school starts.

The bill includes providing a permanent sales-tax exemption on dental and oral-hygiene products, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss and a one year exemption on certain appliances.

Brittany Wolfe, founder and executive director of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank, which helps lower income families, said the permanent sales tax exemption on diapers would be especially beneficial for low-income families with young children.

"We’re super excited," Wolfe said. "Diapers are a real problem in our communities right now, especially with the inflation," she said, adding that "the few cents it saves on a pack of diapers from Walmart could be extra food for their baby or a pair of socks."

For people without kids, or parents whose children are long out of diapers, and wonder what's the big deal, diapers can be expensive.

"Diapers are a huge expense," said Cindy Arenberg Seltzer, president and CEO of the Children's Services Council of Broward County. Recalling when she was the parent of a child in diapers, "I couldn't believe how often I had to go back to the store to buy more diapers because they go through them so quickly."

"The price of diapers has gone up continually. Every time I go buy them for a diaper drive, I’m just amazed," Seltzer said. Even at big-box, warehouse-style retailers, "the prices are crazy."

A few days ago, Wolfe said she was jolted when she was buying diapers and saw a box or a name-brand product was going for $67. She's the mother of two, aged 9 years and 18 months, so she's in the diaper-buying market for herself and Diaper Bank.

Infants require up to 12 diapers a day, according to the National Diaper Bank Network. A University of Wisconsin report estimated that diapers cost $100 a month on average.

An analysis for the Florida Legislature said parents can expect to use about 3,000 diapers in a child's first year, which averages out to a little more than eight a day. The average cost is 30 cents a diaper, the analysis said. (Cost can range from 15 cents to 75 cents each).

At the 7% sales tax rate in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the savings could average $63 to $84 a year, various analyses reported.

Book first introduced legislation to exempt diapers from state sales tax in 2017.

"We continued to file it year after year, and we continued to talk about it," Book said. "Every year it got closer and closer."

One reason for the long path to enactment, Book said, is the composition of the Florida Legislature, which is still largely the province of older men who are "pretty removed" from the need.

Many are closer to the age at which they’re welcoming grandchildren to their families than babies of their own, Book said.

And, she added, even in 2023, Book said, mothers are more attuned to certain aspects of child-rearing, whether it's diapers, shoe sizes — or in her own family, which child only wants the purple Children's Tylenol (grape flavor) and which one wants the pink (bubble gum flavor).

Her assessment of gender disparities in child rearing shows up in a Pew Research Center summary published earlier this month.

"Moms spend more time with their children than dads do — especially when their children are young," and "during waking hours, mothers with children under 6 spent 7.5 hours on child care per day on average, while dads spent 5.3 hours," Pew reported.

Men don't necessarily recognize the difference. "Mothers report taking on more child care responsibilities than their spouse or partner does, while fathers are more likely to say these tasks are split about equally, " Pew said.

The makeup of the Legislature has changed since Book first introduced the idea.

In 2023, figures from the National Conference of State Legislatures show 41.3% of Florida state lawmakers are women. In 2017, the year Book first introduced the legislation, just 25% of Florida's state senators and representatives were women. (Florida now has a higher share of female lawmakers than the nation, at 33%. In 2017, Florida was at the national average of 24.9%.)

One woman who recognized the salience of the issue back in 2017 was state Sen. Kathleen Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples. Passidomo, a mother of three and grandmother of two, became Florida Senate president after last year's elections.

Along the way, the idea has picked up other supporters, including state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who began championing the issues.

A year ago, the Legislature enacted a temporary sales tax exemption for diapers.

The idea picked up a prominent supporter in Gov. Ron DeSantis, who adopted the diaper tax exemption as his own, and touted it and other popular sounding proposals for tax reductions when he was campaigning for reelection last year.

"We want Florida to be family friendly. But so if you’re a family that's doing, especially when you have this crushing Biden-flation, if you’re raising kids, we’re going to do permanent tax exclusion: No sales tax on diapers, wipes, cribs, strollers the whole nine yards," he said at an Oct. 16 campaign rally in Coral Springs. The crowd cheered.

"We’re going to make all baby items – diapers, cribs, wipes, you name it — tax free permanently in the state of Florida, so you can raise kids and get by. You know we have a 5- and a 4- and a 2-year-old. Our two oldest (are) out of diapers. My wife is like, ‘Why didn't you propose that your first year in office?’ Well, you live and learn," DeSantis said during an Oct. 24 debate with his Democratic challenger.

After the Legislature wrapped up its annual season on May 6, DeSantis said the exemptions for products parents use in raising babies "are going to make a big difference for Florida families."

Book said she's gratified the governor has come on board.

"For whatever it's worth, the governor has a young family. The first lady knows first hand what it looks like," Book said.

With the booming economy and inflation driving up costs of many goods, which translates into more sales tax on the higher prices of those goods, the state's coffers are awash with cash.

The budget that passed the Legislature and awaits action by DeSantis, totals $117 billion, an increase of $5 billion from the current fiscal year. The budget includes some toll reductions, tax breaks for developers of workforce housing and exemptions for hurricane reports.

The $1.3 billion of tax law changes aimed at consumers and business in House Bill 7063, pending the governor's signature, includes a long list of reductions.

A total of 18 states don't tax diapers, including Florida which currently has a one-year exemption. Another five states have no sales tax, the diaper network reports.

The impact of the tax exemption will be felt most keenly by lower-income people.

Wolfe said diapers are not only a big expense, but they can't be bought through programs such as SNAP (more commonly known by the former term food stamps) or WIC.

She said families with little money buy the cheapest off-brand diapers at discount stores, or they seek help from diaper giveaways.

And, in some cases, Book, Wolfe and Seltzer said, parents take drastic steps.

Some leave them on their babies long after they need to be changed, because they can't afford replacement, they said.

Others, Wolf said, rinse out and reuse dirty diapers.

"They will wash those diapers out," Wolfe said. "It's a really bad idea," she said, adding "It's really important that we don't reuse those diapers because it is feces and we don't want to put that on our babies."

"We do a lot of diaper drives to help make sure that low income families can keep their babies healthy and clean. Because if they don't have reliable, clean diapers they get more rashes, more UTIs. They can then be sick and kept out of their child care," Seltzer said.

Wolfe said the Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank conducts diaper distribution events and provides diapers to food pantries and other organizations throughout Broward. It's all provided through donations.

Last year, when the need increased partially because of an influx of people from Florida's Gulf Coast after Hurricane Ian, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank Distributed slightly more than 1 million diapers.

Here's a look at some of the other tax breaks approved, under HB 7063:

The bill includes back-to-school holidays from July 24 to Aug. 6 and from Jan. 1 through Jan. 14.

Shoppers will be able to avoid paying sales taxes on clothes and backpacks costing $100 or less, school supplies costing $50 or less and personal computers costing $1,500 or less.

The back-to-school holidays include sales-tax exemptions on "puzzle books and search-and-find books, and interactive or electronic books and toys."

The bill includes disaster-preparedness holidays from May 27 to June 9 and from Aug. 26 to Sept. 8.

Shoppers will be able to avoid paying sales taxes on items ranging from packages of batteries and coolers to portable generators costing $3,000 or less.

The disaster-preparedness holidays include sales-tax exemptions for over-the-counter pet medications costing $100 or less.

The disaster-preparedness holidays include sales-tax exemptions for cans of dog food and cat food costing $10 or less. Also, they include exemptions for such things as leashes and cat litter.

The bill includes what lawmakers dubbed "Freedom Summer." That will provide sales-tax exemptions from Memorial Day to Labor Day on such things as tickets for live music events, sporting events and movies and supplies for boating and fishing. Also, it includes exemptions for children's athletic equipment and toys.

The bill includes a tax holiday from Sept. 2 to Sept. 8 on such things as hand tools, power tools, safety glasses, work boots, duffle bags, toolboxes, hard hats, safety vests and ladders.

The bill includes providing a permanent sales-tax exemption on dental and oral-hygiene products, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss.

The bill includes a one-year sales-tax exemption on gas ranges and cooktops.

Information from the News Service of Florida and the Orlando Sentinel is included in this report.

Anthony Man can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @browardpolitics and on Post.news/@browardpolitics.

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