Dear Govt: tampons are not a luxury item.
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Coles supermarkets have announced they're cutting the price of pads and tampons by 10% to off set the GST placed on them by the federal government. It's a smart campaign that's going under the banner:
"You shouldn't be taxed for being a woman", is expected to save us about $6.5 million a year.
According to the Herald Sun:
It follows market research in which almost three in four female customers said the tax was unfair.Women's Electoral Lobby national chair Eva Cox said female sanitary items were essential health products……
……that should never have been slapped with the GST.
"It's not applied to fresh food or pharmaceuticals. It's making money out of the monthly," Ms Cox said.
Coles marketing director Joe Blundell said the GST slug on feminine hygiene products should be reviewed: "We've acted on our customers' concerns and so we've made an ongoing commitment to reduce the price of all feminine hygiene products sold in our stores by about 10 per cent, effectively removing the cost burden of the GST from our customers."
The Howard government sparked outrage and claims of sexual discrimination by including the GST on the products when the tax was introduced in July 2000. Then health minister Dr Michael Wooldridge clashed with furious women's groups, declaring tampons and pads were just like shaving cream and should be hit with the GST.
The Government rakes in about $25 million a year from GST on female hygiene products. Labor is not reviewing the charge despite protesting against it when in opposition.
Assistant Treasurer Senator Nick Sherry's spokeswoman said: "The parameters of the GST were set following extensive community debate."The Government has made a public commitment not to change the current GST arrangements."
Coles spokesman Jim Cooper said prices had been cut for more than 100 products, with savings ranging from 30c to 70c.
So what do you think? Did you even know there was a tax on your tampons? Is this a cynical marketing exercise by Coles or a valauble contribution to a debate we've been distracted from for a decade? And will this change where you buy your feminine hygiene products (and how much do you hate that term…..)?
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Something to think about while you weight for a bus.
I seriously think women should stage a protest where we throw our period stained underwear at parliament house. (It would be similar to what Thai protesters did in spilling blood).
Maybe then Parliament will see that feminine hygiene products are a necessity, not a luxury.
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Rise up, ladies. You will never have total equality until you stop submitting to paying for your tampons.
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About five years ago I became so disenchanted at the government and it’s approach towards women that I designed a poster to express my beliefs and ideals. It is relevant to this discussion.
If you go the the art section and hit ‘reclaimthestreets’ you will find my poster. I will warn you that some of the language may be considered offensive. I however want to embrace my sexuality and anatomy and challenge the notion that the c word is offensive!
NB: it is a flash website so it takes awhile to load you will need to exercise patience.
http://www.carolineswork.com.au/oldsite.html
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Every month I pay for those items. It’s a must. I also buy Panadine for the pain I go through (migraines and cramps). Every day my hubby shaves… it’s a must if he wants me to kiss him! But he doesn’t need shaving cream – he uses an electric shaver. If he does use a regular razor, he gets the shaving cream, but it’s not a necessary item… I mean, I could use shaving cream if I wanted on my legs, but I choose soap… come to think of it, does soap have GST? It would be super if it didn’t – we use it because we want to, but if people didn’t it wouldn’t be so sweet. Do you think if Julia Gillard were in charge she would think of reversing this GST on ladies personal products? And toilet paper… if we lived without toilet paper, how would that go? I suppose if I were Miles it would be not so bad (guessing there wasn’t much in that hallway…), but I am me with a kid and husband.
Tax me on cooked chickens, tax me on dinner out. don’t tax me on what is needed to get through the day.
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Sure, its wrong. Its pretty disgraceful.
But I mean..come on..we always knew all the government cares about is making money. Surely we didnt expect them to actually care?
We can always start buying the homebrand pads/tampons..
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My husband is in the defence force and he MUST shave every morning, so you can imagine how much money is wasted on his shaving cream and razors; but we can not claim any of it come tax time. Not fair. It also isn’t fair that there is GST on pads. The GST alone would be enough to pay for maternity leave that women have been waiting on for decades. If the GST stays, we should lobby for government/GST sponsored period-pain leave of up to 7 days each month. When I was in the defence force I was lucky enough to have paid sick leave but now that I’m a civilian I have lost hundred of dollars not being able to work during my painful period as I get no paid sick leave anymore
I would also be happy to see the tax removed from shaving products as a shaved man is more pleasing to the eye. I hate beards and always refused to date hairy men. I even make my darling take off his leg hairs.
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Just read the last page of comments – it would appear I have been living under a rock, but that I have some company, in relation to alternatives.
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Mooncup??? Had to google it! Is it just me or have others never heard of this?
Re the GST on ‘femine hygiene products’, when GST was introduced wasn’t it the fact that only tampons, not pads, attracted GST that was the big issue that resulted in Johny being pelted with tampons? All this would suggest that all ‘femine hygiene products’ including pads now attract GST.
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I’d like to add my voice to the non-tampon brand of period-wrangling. I’ve been using a mooncup for a few years and haven’t looked back. The idea that I would ever go back to tampons is laughable.
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I have been thinking about this and to be honest I can’t help feeling, so what if pads and tampons attract GST? As has been pointed out, there are alternatives to buying the disposable products – so it’s not like we don’t have a choice about which product to use. We do not HAVE to buy the disposable brands – they are convenient, yes, and easy to use – but we could live without them. Nobody would argue that disposable nappies are not a luxury item that shouldn’t attract GST – after all, if you have a baby you have the choice to use reusable nappies – but they are a hygiene product that fulfil a need, much the same as pads and tampons.
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It is totally unacceptable that tampons and pads attract the GST. It reflects an absolute lack of female perspective in politics – no compassion, no imagination. And no touch with reality – I mean define luxury! I think any grey areas in the definition and its application to menstrual products would be cleared up pretty quickly if women chose to forego using them for a month or two.
Of course, it is a reminder too that many women are totally dependent on these products and yet there are alternatives – and must be for women who can’t pop down to the shops for some factory made tampons.
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As if Coles aren’t going to hide the GST they are so generously paying on our behalf in some other product we cannot do without by inflating the price. Last time I looked they weren’t pumping out goods from the North Pole and we weren’t living in fantasyland.
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I think it can also be said that men can shave without shaving cream, but women can’t have their period without something to stop us from bleeding everywhere. Public health issue, much?
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