Michigan Republican lawmakers want to exempt all diapers from the state's 6% sales and use taxes. 

The move comes months after a successful bipartisan effort to nix the so-called "tampon tax" on pads, tampons and other feminine hygiene products.

"Families are struggling, families with small children and also senior citizens that have medical issues of incontinence in which they need these adult briefs," said Rep. Julie Alexander, a Hanover Republican and lead sponsor of the House legislation. 

"Even a modest increase in the price of these goods can make a household item like diapers simply unaffordable for our low-income families." 

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About 1 in 3  U.S. families struggled to afford diapers before the pandemic, according to the National Diaper Bank Network, a nonprofit network of diaper banks founded in part with funding from Huggies. Last year, the Metropolitan Detroit Diaper Bank passed out more than  1 million diapers. 

Given the financial stress caused by the pandemic, diaper banks across the nation are handing out 86% more supplies than they did on average previously, said Phillip Vander Klay, director of policy and government relations for the diaper bank network. 

"It does help families at the end of the day, especially families that are struggling to stretch a paycheck to the end of the month. That extra cash could make the difference in helping them buy a larger box of diapers," Vander Klay said. 

"By exempting diapers from taxes, that's tax reform that goes into parents' pockets." 

Vander Klay said 10 other states have already exempted diapers from sales taxes, most recently Louisiana and California. In addition to saving money, he said it may also help prevent parents from missing work: Many day cares allow children to stay only if parents provide diapers. 

"Being able to bridge that gap in the amount of diapers they have is huge for a family's economics," he said. 

The pandemic pressures that are driving demand are also pushing producers to increase prices. 

Kimberly-Clark Corp., which owns Huggies, announced in March 2021 it would raise prices on many of its products due to "significant commodity cost inflation." Proctor & Gamble, which makes Pampers, made a similar announcement last week, according to Reuters. 

Right now at Meijer, a set of 96 Pampers diapers for infants costs about $27. A pack of 28 adult diapers for men costs about $21. Cutting the sales and use taxes on each product would in theory save consumers about $1.62 on the diapers for children and $1.26 on the adult diapers. 

These measures would cost the state, though. An analysis by the House Fiscal Agency suggested the state could lose anywhere from $18 million to $20 million in tax collections if the measures become law.

Alexander said she originally gauged exempting a broader swatch of items, including toothpaste and shampoos. But she determined this would have too large of an impact on the state's budget, so instead she focused on items she thought were truly crucial for families. 

Alexander also noted that Michiganders cannot use money from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to pay for diapers. 

"Those are the families, low-income families, often women that are pregnant or breast feeding and have young children. They can buy a lot of things and items, but they can't use them for diapers," Alexander said. 

"We know for seniors this is a significant impact as well, and want to be there to create the dialogue to hopefully make some good, solid fiscal decisions." 

Her bills are up for discussion Tuesday in the House Families, Children and Seniors Committee. They would need to advance through the full House and Senate before potentially becoming law, a process that generally takes some time. 

State Sen. Tom Barrett, a Charlotte Republican who's also running for Congress, has comparable legislation in the Senate. In a statement, he said he tried to amend the measures repealing the taxes for feminine hygiene products to include "all essential hygiene products."

"Unfortunately that amendment wasn’t successful, so when Representative Alexander came to me with the idea to extend this tax exemption to adult and child diapers it was another step closer to removing taxes on all essential hygiene products," Barrett said in a statement. 

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Democrats joined with Republicans in pushing to eliminate the tampon tax. But so far, only one Democrat — state Rep. Shri Thanedar, a Detroit Democrat who's also running for Congress — has signed on as a co-sponsor of Alexander's bills. 

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer championed repealing the tax on feminine hygiene products. A spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about whether she would support a similar repeal for diapers. 

Contact Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com or 313-938-4591. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.