Results: The Pink Tax

It is known as the "Pink Tax." I talked to several women shoppers and even if they had never heard the term, they knew the reality. "We as women pay more for dry cleaning and other things. That I know for a fact," one woman told me. Another woman shopper listed what she paid more for: "Feminine products, clothing, dry cleaning and things like that." Are you familiar with the pink tax?

A study by the City of New York found women pay more from "cradle to cane." The report figures women pay approximately 7 percent more than men for similar products. This does not surprise Congresswoman Jackie Speier (California). "Objects that are pink in color are priced higher than objects that are blue in color," she tells me, "and it starts at a very young age. You can go online at big block stores as I have done, as my staff has done, and we have a whole binder full of product that is surcharged because it is pink." Do you agree with a surcharge being added to products that are pink in color?

I looked for examples here in the Bay Area, going from store to store and searching online as well. Generally I found pink and blue items had matching prices, but I did find some examples of what seemed like a gender difference in pricing. If you are a woman, have you ever paid a higher product price due to gender pricing?

Congresswoman Speier has just reintroduced the Pink Tax Repeal Act, a bipartisan bill with 50 cosponsors. "This bill would provide that the FTC would have the authority to fine companies that do that sort of discriminatory pricing," Speier says. "It would be deemed an unfair business practice". The bill would also give State Attorneys General the authority to take civil action. Do you agree with the Pink Tax Repeal Act being reintroduced?