Britain’s finance ministry introduced on Friday that it had abolished the value-added tax on girls’s sanitary merchandise.
“Sanitary products are essential, so it’s right that we do not charge VAT,” stated Sunak. “We have already rolled out free sanitary products in schools, colleges and hospitals and this commitment takes us another step closer to making them available and affordable for all women,” stated Rishi Sunak, the Treasury chief.
Sunak had promised to eradicate the tax in March when he launched the price range however needed to look ahead to the UK to go away the EU to make the transfer.
The abolition of the “tampon tax” will save the typical British girl about 40 kilos (€45, $55) over her lifetime, in response to estimates from the UK treasury.
“It’s been a long road to reach this point, but at last, the sexist tax that saw sanitary products classified as non-essential, luxury items can be consigned to the history books,” stated Felicia Willow the chief of Fawcett Society, a girls’s rights charity.
Scotland has already handed a invoice that offers girls free common entry to sanitary merchandise in public buildings. Countries like Australia, Canada and India have already eradicated the tampon tax, whereas some states within the US have additionally removed the tax.
Success attributed to Brexit
The elimination of the “tampon tax” was attributed by a number of Conservative MPs to Brexit. Members of the EU can’t scale back the speed of VAT to lower than 5% on menstrual merchandise as they’re categorized as luxurious objects.
The UK left the only market and customs union of the EU on Thursday, enabling it to make new legal guidelines and classify tampons and sanitary pads as important commodities.
However, Laura Coryton, an activist instructed the Guardian’s web site that it’s “frustrating that the tampon tax is being used as a political football in terms of Brexit.”
