Legislation proposing to exclude optical aids from Alabama's sales tax is proposed for the 2026 legislative session once more.
Alabama House Bill 15: A Push to Exempt Optical Aids from Sales Tax
In the Alabama Legislature, House Bill 15 (HB15) is currently under consideration. This bill aims to exempt the gross proceeds of optical aid sales from all state sales and use tax.
HB15, which has been referred to the House Ways and Means Education Committee ahead of next year's legislative session, seeks to bring Alabama in line with many other states that have already exempted optical aids from sales tax. However, the current status of HB15 in the Alabama Legislature is not specifically mentioned in the available search results.
Optical aids, as defined in HB15, include eyeglasses, contact lenses, and other instruments or devices that aid or correct human vision and have been prescribed by a licensed physician or optometrist.
According to recent data, Alabama is one of only a handful of states that continues to levy sales tax on optical aids without exceptions. This contrasts with some states that only tax contacts and glasses at a half rate, but Alabama does not, as pointed out by State Representative Mark Shirey during a House Ways and Means Education Committee meeting in February.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services classifies eyeglasses as prescription medical devices. Yet, Alabama is the only state, according to Shirey, that taxes such devices. This taxation can have a significant impact on patients with unexpected costs and disadvantages for providers and retailers.
Last year, a similar bill, House Bill 176, was passed by the Alabama House of Representatives but failed to pass through the Senate before the end of the session. Shirey has prefiled a new version of the bill, House Bill 15, with the hopes of passing it into law in 2026.
If you have any questions or need more information about HB15 or optical aids tax exemptions in Alabama, it may be necessary to consult the Alabama Legislature's official website or contact state legislative offices directly.
[1] Ohio HB15: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA133-HB-15 [2] Alabama 2025 Legislative Session: https://www.alabamalegislature.gov/session/2025RegularSession/Pages/default.aspx
The bill under consideration in the Alabama Legislature, HB15, aims to exempt optical aids, such as eyeglasses and contact lenses, from sales tax, aligning with many other states that have already done so. However, the current status of HB15 in the Alabama Legislature is not clearly mentioned, as opposed to some states where eyeglasses are classified as prescription medical devices and are taxed less or not at all, impacting patients' costs and providers' operations.
