UK abolishes ‘tampon tax’ on menstrual merchandise

The UK has abolished the 5 per cent price of value-added tax (VAT) on menstrual merchandise, often known as the tampon tax — that means that there’ll now not be VAT on interval merchandise from January 1 onwards.“(The) tampon tax abolished – from today (1 Jan 2021) VAT no longer applies to women’s sanitary products. (This is a) part of wider government action to End Period Poverty which includes the roll-out of free sanitary products in schools, colleges and hospitals. The move made possible by end of the transition period and freedom from EU law mandating VAT on sanitary products,” the UK Government stated in a press release.The assertion additional stated that the transfer honours a authorities dedication to scrap the tax and is a part of a wider technique to make sanitary merchandise reasonably priced and obtainable for all girls.Chancellor Rishi Sunak stated: “I’m proud that we are today delivering on our promise to scrap the tampon tax. Sanitary products are essential so it’s right that we do not charge VAT.”He added, “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.”The Chancellor introduced that the tampon tax was to be abolished from 1 January 2021 at March 2020 Budget. As the transition interval ended on December thirty first, the UK is now not sure by the EU VAT Directive which mandates a minimal 5% tax on all sanitary merchandise.According to CNN, Campaigners had been calling for the top of the tax, labeled “sexist” and “outdated,” for years.“It’s been a long road to reach this point, but at last the sexist tax that saw sanitary products classed as non-essential, luxury items can be consigned to the history books,” Felicia Willow Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, the UK’s oldest charity campaigning for ladies’s rights and gender equality.Scotland grew to become the primary nation on this planet to permit free and common entry to menstrual merchandise, together with tampons and pads, in public amenities, in November 2020.Globally, only a handful of nations have zero tax added to sanitary merchandise, together with Canada, India, Australia, Kenya and several other US states.Germany additionally voted to scale back its tax price on female hygiene merchandise after deeming them to be a day by day necessity, not a luxurious.