States should fully exempt breast pumps and supplies from their state sales and use taxes. These pumps and supplies are used to express and collect breast milk for a variety of reasons, including (but not limited to): when infants are premature and unable to latch, when infants have severe feeding problems, when mothers have difficulty establishing or maintaining an adequate milk supply, when mothers have temporary breastfeeding problems, and when mothers and infants are separated for prolonged periods due to hospitalization. The pumps and supplies also empower an increasing number of mothers to continue to feed breast milk to newborns for longer periods when they return to work following the birth of their infants.

A partial exemption for pumps that are prescribed or conditional on some other criteria doesn’t ease the tax burden on most moms. The only real solution is a full sales and use tax exemption for breast pumps and supplies.