Notes

The pink tax refers to the general tendency for products marketed toward women consumers to be more expensive than those marketed toward men.
The pink tax is often seen in a number of everyday products and services, including razors, shampoo, dry cleaning, and haircuts.
The pink tax is not an actual tax.
The pink tax is illegal in New York state.
While the pink tax applies to all types of products, the "tampon tax" is a sales tax that many states charge for feminine-hygiene products.
When a company manufactures or sells a product, it may choose to price it a bit higher because it’s for women. In most cases, the difference between these products and comparable products for men is very minor. It may simply be the color or package design. The pink tax makes it more expensive for women to buy what they need to live their everyday lives. For example, according to investment bank JPMorgan Chase, by many estimates, the pink tax costs women an average of $1,300 per year
Examples of the Pink Tax
For example, at the drugstore, you may notice that some razors may be pink in color and have a woman on the package, yet they are essentially the same as those that are blue with a man on the package. This marketing tactic is to entice certain people to buy certain products over others. And in that, the ones that are marketed toward women tend to cost more.
Products that could be used by any gender, but may cost more when marketed toward women, include:
Soap
Lotion
Shampoo
Deodorant
Laxatives
Clothes
Toys
Travel toiletries2
The pink tax dates back to at least the 1990s when a report from California’s Assembly Office of Research found that 64% of stores in several major cities charged more to wash and dry-clean a woman’s blouse than a man’s button-up shirt.3

The subject gained national attention and has since spurred various attempts at instituting regulation to remove the pink tax