Tampon Tax

Happy Sunday everyone! ☺

I hope you all have had a lovely week. This weeks source of inspiration comes from Laura Coryton’s ‘Stop Taxing Periods’ campaign and the changes made to end the Tampon Tax.

What is the Tampon Tax all about?

In the last few months you’ve probably heard the phrases ‘Tampon Tax’ and ‘Period Poverty’ been used in the news in different parts of the world but how did this movement begin? Here in the U.K, Laura Coryton started the modern-day feminist movement by creating a petition on Change.org pointing out that the tax on tampons are “illogical and sexist” given the fact that “crocodile steaks are considered essential enough to escape tax altogether.”

Why are tampons being taxed in the first place?

Tampons, and other feminine sanitary products alike, are taxed in the U.K because of the restrictions put by the EU law. Initally, when the U.K government had become a part of the European Union tampons were taxed at 17.5%, and was eventually reduced to 5% in the year 2000.

If we were still a part of the EU, the process to scrap the Tampon Tax would require the vote of the other 27 states.

Recent Changes

But last year in March, MP Paula Sherriff proposed the tampon-tax-ending amendment, which Parliament had accepted but unfortunately won’t be followed through until April 2018. Not only are Parliament (finally) supporting the cause, but supermarkets like Tesco and Waitrose are also showing their support by pledging to drop the price of their period products by 5%. So when you go to shop at Tesco or Waitrose the tax on tampons, sanitary pads and panty liners will already be paid for! ☺

It’s so inspiring to see how one person can encourage others to be proactive and ensure that change is followed through.

What can I do?

The fact that we still have to protest and campaign for our basic needs as women still shows the dismissive attitude that politics have had towards womens rights, but thankfully we are taking steps in the right direction. As I’ve mentioned before, the government are looking to implement the tampon-tax-ending amendment in April 2018, but for now you can still make changes by signing the petition that I’ve embedded below to get supermarkets like Sainsbury, Morrisons and Asda to pay the Tampon Tax.

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