Sanitary items will continue to be taxed as “luxury items” under the GST, Joe Hockey has confirmed.
State and federal treasurers “failed to come to a unanimous agreement” needed to remove the so-called ‘tampon tax’ at a meeting in Alice Springs today.
Labor treasurers fought for the removal of the tax, with South Australian and Victorian treasurers Tom Koutsantonis and Tim Pallas expressing their disappointment on Twitter:
Hockey said further modelling on a range of possible tax reforms will take place before the treasurers meet again in September.
In the meantime, menstruating Australians will continue to pay an extra 10% on their pads and tampons.
For more on this topic, try these:
We need to axe the “tampon tax” because a tampon is not a bloody luxury item.
Giant tampons have been protesting on the lawns of Parliament House.
Top Comments
The amount of tax payed on each item is minimal. The cost per packet would come down maybe 50c.
I'm happy to pay.
So let's exempt my nanna's Poise disposable underwear. They are essential too. She doesn't choose to be incontinent in her old age. Oh - and babies' nappies? They don't choose to be too young to understand their bodily functions so let's exempt them too.
Hey let's exempt toothpaste because we all brush our teeth and to not do so is unthinkable. Toilet paper? Well we can't do without that either so let's exempt it too.
Jeez - just stop the whining about tampons? You don't have periods your whole life - once you hit 50 they're pretty much done and you still have another 40 years without that annoying tax.