Nevada fiscal analysts project that state and local governments would lose between $6 million and $8.5 million each year if voters choose in November to exempt tampons and sanitary pads from the sales tax.

The Legislative Counsel Bureau’s Fiscal Analysis Division released its assessment of the so called “Pink Tax” exemption earlier this month. After state lawmakers voted in favor of the exemption in 2017, it will appear on the statewide ballot in the upcoming general election.

In their official argument in favor of the exemption, proponents say taxing such essential medical products is discriminatory and unjust toward women struggling to make ends meet.

“These products are not a luxury but a basic necessity of life that women use starting around age 12 until their early 50s,” the argument’s authors wrote. “There is no equivalent medical product that is used only by one sex on a monthly basis for decades … Feminine hygiene products need to be more accessible, and eliminating these taxes on sanitary napkins and tampons will make them more affordable.”

Opponents focused on the potential for lost revenue — including school funding — in their formal opposition. They argued that the sales tax is not discriminatory, and that many other essential products including soap, toothpaste and toilet paper are still subject to the levy.

“A broader tax base generally leads to lower rates and is better suited to accommodate upturns and downturns in the economy,” opponents wrote. “Instead of broadening the tax base, this exemption will narrow the tax base, creating the potential for more volatility in sales and use tax revenue and complicating the administration of these taxes with no gain in terms of tax policy.”

Fiscal analysts based their projection on the assumption that women generally need tampons and sanitary napkins from the ages of 12 to 55. Out of the approximately 3 million Nevada residents, 867,000 women fall in that age bracket, according to the state demographer.

Analysts assumed women buy between $7 and $10 of feminine hygiene products each month, generating total taxable sales of $73 million and $104 million each year. They said they couldn’t reasonably estimate how much the state’s tens of millions of visitors each year are spending on the products once they arrive in Nevada.

Nevada applies a 6.85 percent sales tax, but some individual counties have higher rates. Clark County, for example, has a total sales tax of 8.25 percent after a rate hike enacted in recent years to hire more police officers.

The chart below shows the amounts of money counties could lose simply by not being able to collect the county-specific portion of their sales tax.

Pink Tax Exemption Fiscal Analysis by Michelle Rindels on Scribd