After years of campaigning – and years of outrage at the fact that women have to pay a 'tax' for an essential item that we use to manage a natural bodily function beyond our control – the so-called 'tampon tax' has been abolished.
Delivering the budget today (Wednesday, March 11), chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the five per cent VAT on sanitary products, including tampons and pads, would be scrapped at the end of the year.
From January 2021, there will be no tax on period products.
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This debate has been ongoing for several years since it became widely known that tampons, pads and other sanitary products were subject to a 'luxury' tax.
Following an initial outcry over the fact that women and girls were financially penalised by the government for bleeding every month, which a viral petition amassing hundreds of thousands of signatures noted, some supermarkets such as Tesco and Waitrose offered to cover the charge themselves, prompting a response from the then Chancellor, George Osborne.
At the time, the government pledged to donate the tax to women's charities, however this led to outcry when it was later revealed that one of the included organisations was an anti-abortion group.
In his announcement today, Sunak said the measure is being introduced 'now that we have left the EU' as sanitary products were subject to VAT under EU law (in 2016, EU officials did suggest they had reached a deal to allow the UK to scrap the tax).
The move is estimated to save women £40 over their lifetime, with a box of 20 tampons reducing in price by 7p and 5p on a pack of 12 pads.
Responding to the decision, the girls rights charity Plan UK called today a 'landmark moment in the fight against period poverty' but called on the government to 'continue to invest in schemes that smash the stigma surrounding periods and improve period eduction in schools'.
Today's move is a step in the right direction but there's more to be done.
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Olivia Blair is Entertainment Editor (Luxury) at Hearst UK, working across ELLE, Esquire and Harper's Bazaar. Olivia covers all things entertainment and has interviewed the likes of Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, Michaela Coel and Ryan Gosling over the years.
