I’m bloody outraged that the government charges me a 15% tax on my tampons which will cost me $18.72 a year! Sure, to some of you, this is still somewhat of a shruggable number. Or is it?
There are 551 of us menstruating marvels here at WHS. And it is estimated that we will have periods for 40 years. So together, nearly half a million dollars will be ripped from us through GST. Isn’t so shruggable then is it? And that’s at today’s price of tampons and pads and assuming GST stays at 15%.
Statistics NZ says there are over 1.1 million women of menstruating age in New Zealand so the government is making nearly $22 million each year from us. My biology is costing me! GST on sanitary items is fundamental sexism.
Champawgne, caviar, tampons; spot the not so luxurious item. You don’t insert a tampon and squeal – “oh aren’t I spoilt!” It’s ridiculous that here in New Zealand sanitary items are seen by the government as a luxury, not a necessity. I mean come on, it’s about dignity and health – by not sharing infections through blood.
But landlords are exempt and don’t have to pay GST on rental properties. And rich people don’t have to pay GST on gold. So why tax tampons and other sanitary products?
The government is greedily plunging their sticky, sausage fingers into my purse and pulling out fistfuls of cash due to my gender, simply because I’m a fertile female who menstruates.
Yes, I understand taxes are important to fund schools, healthcare etc. However imagine the millions of dollars from GST being spent on cleaning and sterilising the country if all women freely bled. Just imagine it, blood on the bus seats you sit on every day, rich iron stench curling your nostrils. Blood borne illnesses, lurking behind every corner, waiting to pounce. Getting a blood stain on your favourite undies is horrific enough, let alone wherever you go for 3-5 days each month.
I grew up proud to be a New Zealander. I thought we were leaders in equality, first country for women to vote and all. However, I have come to recognise that we are vastly falling behind as the government still taxes such gender-specific, crucial items such as pads and tampons. There is no male equivalent of pads and tampons, females are paying taxes on vital hygienic items. Simply ludicrous!
Why don’t our politicians pull their minds out of our purses, grow up and take Canada’s lead and remove GST from tampons? Last year a female MP successfully led a Private Member’s bill that removed GST from all sanitary products, which is estimated to cost the government about $36million.
Women in Ireland don’t pay any VAT – their equivalent of GST at all. The UK reduced the tampon tax to 5%, the least possible amount under EU law and this happen 15 entire years ago when I was just two years old. So NZ has some catching up to do. Even our misogynistic, Tony-Abbott-voting Aussie mates have been considering it! Crickey!
Better still; five New York women are taking the state government to court saying, “The tax on tampons and sanitary pawds is a tax on women. The Tampon Tax is irrational. It is discriminwation. It is wrong,”
Even the US President Barack Obama says it’s wrong. In an interview in January he said, “I have to tell you I have no idea why states would tax these as luxury items. I suspect it was because men were making the laws when those taxes were passed”. He then added; “I think it’s pretty sensible for women… to work to get those taxes removed”.
Our country was the first in the world to give women the vote. Let’s not be the last to remove this sexist, biological tax!
By Lizzie Keats
Images attached to this article
