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SYDNEY, Australia – When the Australian Conservative government introduced a federal goods and services tax in 2000, the then Minister of Health opposed a new 10% tax on tampons and other products hygienic for women.
All that does not prevent disease, said the minister, Michael Wooldridge, should be taxed.
"As a guy, I would like the shaving cream to be exempt, but I did not expect it to be," said Mr. Wooldridge, a member of the board of directors, in January. of the Liberal Party. Condoms are exempt, but not tampons, because "condoms prevent diseases," he said. "I did not know that menstruation was a disease."
Tampons and towels were then considered "luxury" products and taxed as such.
It took years and successive governments – both conservative and progressive – to recognize that hygiene products were an indispensable health product for women.
On Wednesday, the six men and two women holding the purse strings for their states and territories announced that they had accepted the government's proposal to exempt such taxes.
The exemption will come into effect on January 1, said Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
"I think it was a tax anomaly," he told a Sydney radio station on Wednesday. The exemption will cost the states about $ 30 million a year, or $ 21.5 million a year, but he said the revenue would be offset by other sources.
The exemption, which has lasted for 18 years, sparked a sarcastic laugh from feminist commentator Clementine Ford, who paid the stamp tax for much of her adult life and even protested it as as a student at the university.
"I have the impression that it's been so long," she said about the tax. "At different times, a concerted push has taken place. These are only people with the power to change without political will. "
The fight for a stamp tax goes beyond Australia's borders. In the United States, there is no tax in nine states for products such as cups, towels and menstrual pads. Five other states have no sales tax. The mayor of Washington signed a waiver last year. But 36 US states still tax health products, say group Fairness of the period.
Kenya was one of the first countries to eliminate the tax on tampons and towels in 2004. India ended its 12% tax on sanitary products last July and Canada has completely abolished its tax. on products and services in 2015.
Julie Smith, a researcher at the Australian National University of Health and Medicine, said that in the past, tampons were considered a luxury item.
"In addition to things like non-taxation of condoms, cotton swabs and razors, it seems that the GST has anomalies based on rather outdated attitudes and lack of understanding," she said. referring to the Australian Goods and Services Tax.
The new exemption for health products is seen by some as a timely policy measure to help the ruling Liberal Party try to rebuild its reputation after a recent coup de état.
The commentator, Ms. Ford, said that, although pleased with Wednesday's announcement, she remains cynical about the government's actions.
"It is completely absurd that this tax even exists, so I am wary of the act of celebrating too much, as this could have a positive influence on the government," she said. "I do not want to reward the Liberal government for finally deciding to get rid of a tax they have introduced that is completely unfair. It's as it should be.
