Budget & Taxes (Sales Tax)

HR 3128, the Improving Diaper Affordability Act of 2025, makes diapers eligible as qualified medical expenses under tax-advantaged health accounts (like HSAs and health flexible spending arrangements) and prohibits states or localities from imposing sales taxes on diaper purchases. This directly affects families with young children - particularly low-income households, where 46% report struggling to afford diapers - who currently spend hundreds annually on diapers. The bill changes existing tax rules so families can use pre-tax dollars from health savings accounts to cover diaper costs, and bans sales taxes on diaper purchases starting in 2025. It does not create new government assistance programs but adjusts tax treatment to reduce out-of-pocket costs for diapers.

This bill amends the tax code to close a loophole that previously allowed certain tar sands oil to be taxed differently than conventional crude oil. It expands the definition of "crude oil" under federal excise tax rules to explicitly include oil derived from tar sands, bitumen, and oil shale. This change directly affects oil producers and refiners handling these specific unconventional oil sources, requiring them to pay the standard crude oil excise tax. The key mechanism is the updated tax code definition, which also grants the Secretary regulatory authority to include other pipeline-transported petroleum products meeting specific environmental risk criteria.

This bill allows states to impose a sales tax on purchases made at gift shops located on federal property, including both in-person transactions and online purchases through those shops. It applies to gift shops at specific federal facilities like the Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. States would collect this tax as they do for other retail locations, treating these gift shops similarly to private businesses. The bill does not change existing tax rules for federal employees or alter federal property ownership.

This bill increases the excise tax on investment income earned by private colleges and universities from 1.4% to 10%. It also lowers the asset threshold requiring taxation from $500,000 to $200,000 per student, meaning more institutions will now be subject to the tax. The tax applies only to investment income, not the full endowment value, and affects private colleges meeting the new per-student asset threshold. The changes take effect for taxable years after the bill's enactment.