At 17 years old, Aspen Rawson used toilet paper instead of period products to make it through work and afford food.
“I know that even a couple of cents can make a difference in being able to purchase a box of tampons, and I know exempting these products from the sales tax can make that difference,” Rawson said.
Rawson, now a senior at the University of Colorado Boulder, is part of a student group called Queers United Against Capitalism that advocated for the Boulder County commissioners to exempt period products and diapers from its sales tax. Starting Jan. 1, the county will no longer apply its sales tax to those products.
Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann said when the students approached them about the idea, the commissioners were excited and immediately started working on it.
“This was absolutely a community-sparked idea and suggestion (the students) brought forward, and it wouldn’t have happened without them,” Stolzmann said.
Colorado eliminated state sales tax on diapers and menstrual products in 2022, opening the door for cities and counties to eliminate their local sales tax. Boulder exempted the products from the city’s sales tax in 2023, but all Boulder County residents still had to pay county sales tax.
Rawson first learned about the sales tax issue in a women and gender studies class at CU Boulder.
“While you weren’t paying state or city sales tax (in Boulder), you were still paying the county sales tax, and that didn’t seem right to me,” Rawson said.
The tax exemption, which was approved by the commissioners on Nov. 13, means that Boulder County residents will not have to pay the county’s 2026 sales tax of 1.335% on period products and diapers. This means shoppers in Boulder will pay no sales tax on those products starting in 2026, since the city has already exempted it.
The tax exemption covers everything from pads and tampons to incontinence products and diapers. The elimination of the tax impacts a wide range of people, Rawson said, including babies, young families, the elderly, women and transgender and non-binary people.
“Local politics influences our everyday lives in some really meaningful ways, and being able to influence this change was a big win for (our group) and an example of how you don’t need a big group of people to enact big changes,” Rawson said.
The students first contacted the county in February about the tax exemption. Any new county tax changes have to be adopted on Jan. 1 of each year, making 2026 the earliest date the change could be adopted.
Stolzmann said it was important to the commissioners to eliminate these essential products from being taxed as residents face affordability challenges.
“Every bit helps, and if you think of folks just starting out, younger people, people who are having babies, there are a lot of costs,” Stolzmann said. “And this is a small piece of their overall affordability bill, but each bit helps, and we hope it removes some burden.”
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