For parents and caretakers of young children, diapers can be among the priciest of daily expenses. According to the National Diaper Bank Network, one in two U.S. families struggle to afford clean diapers.
That’s true closer to home, where diapering costs have gone up around 185% after COVID, and where it’s estimated that around 50,000 Nevada children under the age of three now don’t have adequate access to diapers.
Ballot Question 5, introduced by state lawmakers last year and on the ballot this November, wants to ameliorate this.
The measure is proposing an amendment to the state’s Sales and Use Tax of 1955, to exempt both adult and child diapers from sales tax, which differs by county and is anywhere between 6.850% and 8.375%.
A “yes” from voters on Ballot Question 5 would establish this tax exemption as law for the next 25 years, through the end of 2050.
A “no” would end its journey right here.Kelly Maxwell is the CEO and executive director of Baby’s Bounty, a local nonprofit that advocates for the health and wellbeing of infants. She’s also been a vocal supporter of ending sales tax on diapers, arguing that access to diapers is a public health issue.
"Children are at a whole host of risks for a whole host of issues without adequate diaper supplies,” she said. “So, they're at risk of severe diaper rash, infection, even viral meningitis, and oftentimes poverty. Not being able to afford these diapers, poverty can look like neglect, so sometimes these issues of families not being able to afford the diapers turns into a CPS issue. So now we're talking about getting families in that cycle of poverty.”
These myriad health and social impacts might have been why the ballot measure passed unanimously in the legislature, with bipartisan support and testimony from diverse voices, including the community organizing group Battle Born Progress, the Nevada Republican Party, and the Retail Association of Nevada.
Yet, every tax exemption comes with economic consequences, this time in the form of lost revenue: The Secretary of State’s 2024 Ballot Question Summary noted that a diaper exemption would cause Nevada to lose about $400 million in tax revenue over the next 25 years.
Maxwell said these numbers aren’t indicative of the whole picture.
“That estimation assumes that the savings on diapers would not be then used to purchase other taxable goods,” she said. “There are many, many child supplies that are taxable. So, they had to make that assumption, because that's the only way to calculate this. But sales tax is not a zero-sum game. This money will very likely be spent by families on other taxable items.”
Instead, Maxwell encourages voters to look at the positive impact this tax exemption will have on local families struggling to get by.
“The yearly tax savings that parents would experience if we remove the sales tax on diapers would allow them to afford roughly a month supply of diapers. That's a significant amount.”
Guest: Kelly Maxwell, CEO and executive director, Baby’s Bounty and chair, Nevada Diapering Resources Committee
