UK ends 'tampon tax' on menstrual products

The UK government with the intention to end period poverty abolished the 5 per cent value-added tax (VAT) on menstrual products. Campaigners had labelled the tax as sexist, outdated and they had been struggling to end the tax for years.

London: The UK has abolished the 5 per cent value-added tax (VAT) on menstrual products, in place from January 1 onwards.

" 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 UK government said in a statement.

The statement further said that the move honours a government commitment to scrap the tax and is part of a wider strategy to make sanitary products affordable and available for all women.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: "I'm proud that we are today delivering 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 announced that the tampon tax was to be abolished from 1 January 2021 along with March 2020 budget. As the transition period ended on December 31st, the UK is no longer bound by the EU VAT Directive which mandates a minimum 5% tax on all sanitary products.

According to CNN, campaigners had been calling for the end of the tax, labelled "sexist" and "outdated," for years.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 women's rights and gender equality.

Scotland became the first country in the world to allow free and universal access to menstrual products, including tampons and pads, in public facilities, in November 2020. Globally, just a handful of countries have zero tax added to sanitary products, including Canada, India, Australia, Kenya and several US states. Germany also voted to reduce its tax rate on feminine hygiene products after deeming them to be a daily necessity, not a luxury.

(ANI)