ATLANTA — With the new legislation session, advocates hope to get Georgia lawmakers' attention and relief for parents spending hundreds of dollars on basic needs for their babies.
Children require at least 50 diaper changes per week, according to the National Diaper Bank Network, yet many families struggle to afford them.
"This isn't something you can choose not to have," said Jamie Lackey of Helping Mamas. "If you want to take your child to childcare, then you have to have diapers, and if you don't have childcare then you can't go to work."
Helping Mamas provides families in need with such basics and other baby items. The nonprofit is working with the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students in the hopes that Georgia lawmakers will give families a tax break when it comes to diapers.
"Every family with a baby has to at some point purchase diapers for their child," said GEEARS executive director Mindy Binderman. "We know that families are strapped, and we believe one way that legislature could address that is by eliminating the diaper tax."
Georgia currently has a 4% sales tax on items including diapers. In other states, the sales tax rate could be as high as 7%. Cities and counties can also add additional taxes. While families can't use SNAP or WIC funds to purchase diapers, some qualifying families can use TANF funds, but advocates such funding is inadequate.
Illustrating the need, the National Diaper Bank Network reports 1 in 3 families cannot afford enough diapers to keep their baby clean and dry, but the push to help families is happening across the country.
Louisiana and Florida already eliminated or paused sales tax on diapers; South Carolina will consider a similar bill.
In Georgia, 22% of children under the age of five live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level.
Opponents of the tax break maintain there are other ways to relieve the tax burden on lower income families, by offering targeted relief to only those who need it most.
“Exempting diapers from the sales tax is well-meaning, but it may not provide the amount of benefit that lawmakers would expect it to give, and it would depart from the principles of sound tax policy by hollowing out the sales tax base,” said policy analyst Janelle Fritts, who works with the Tax Foundation.
Fritts also believes eliminating the sales tax on diapers could detrimentally impact existing issues with supply.
“In the long run, the lack of sales tax would likely lower the price of diapers, but in the short run, those savings may not get passed on to consumers, as retailers may have to raise their prices in order to make sure they don’t have shortages," said Fritts.
State Rep. Ron Stephens (R), who is currently working on the bill, also anticipates a possible hurdle could be the separate effort to eliminate the state income tax.
Stephens said that could make it hard to get support to cut other types of revenue like sales tax, though the lawmaker said there could be opportunities to support families through additional nonprofit support.
Advocates, meanwhile, tell 11Alive that with rising costs and inflation, families across Georgia can benefit, and even saving a few dollars on a box of diapers can add up.
"What we're hoping is lawmakers see this as a win for all of Georgia's children, and it will be a chance to alleviate stress for these families," said Lackey.