Tampon tax abolished: Rishi Sunak announces charge will be scrapped in January next year when EU rules no longer apply to the UK
- Brexit means the UK will now be able to scrap VAT charged on sanitary products
- Tampon tax will be abolished in January after end of the Brexit transition period
- EU laws mean members not allowed to cut VAT on products below five per cent
Rishi Sunak today announced he will abolish the so-called tampon tax from January next year when the UK no longer has to follow EU rules.
Laws made in Brussels have meant Britain has been unable to scrap VAT on women’s sanitary products despite growing calls and mounting pressure from campaigners.
But Mr Sunak said the UK’s departure from the bloc means Britain will soon be able to set its own policy on the matter.
Delivering his first Budget as Chancellor, Mr Sunak told the House of Commons: ‘I can also confirm now that we have left the EU that I will abolish the tampon tax.
‘From January next year there will be no VAT whatsoever on women’s sanitary products.
‘And I congratulate all members and right honorable members who campaigned for this.’
Rishi Sunak announced today the tampon tax will be scrapped in January next year when EU rules no longer apply to the UK
The UK and Brussels are currently in a Brexit ‘standstill’ transition period during which the former has agreed to follow EU rules.
That transition period will end on December 31. Mr Sunak’s announcement means the UK will scrap the tampon tax as soon as it is free to diverge from EU regulations.
Existing EU law has prevented member states from reducing the VAT rate on sanitary products below five per cent.
That means tampons and pads are technically classed as luxury items and not essentials.
The Treasury estimates removing VAT from the products will save the average woman nearly £40 over her lifetime, with a cut of 7p on a pack of 20 tampons and 5p on 12 pads.
Critics have long criticised the tax for contributing to ‘period poverty’, where sanitary products are pushed out of reach because of their cost.
Tampons and towels have been subject to five different tax rates since 1973.
The UK first introduced VAT in 1973, with a standard rate of 10 per cent applied to sanitary products.
In 1974, standard VAT was cut to eight per cent, before rising to 15 per cent in 1979 and 17.5 per cent in 1991.
The Government moved sanitary products to a reduced rate of five per cent in January 2001 following a campaign and debates in Parliament.
Since 2015, revenues raised from VAT charges on tampons and pads have been used to fund charities that aid vulnerable women.
More than £62million has been allocated since the scheme was launched.
Campaigners welcomed the announcement that the tampon tax will be scrapped.
However, concerns have been expressed that the Treasury is not planning to replace the tampon tax fund with other investment.
Rose Caldwell, CEO of Plan International UK, a humanitarian charity, said: ‘Today’s scrapping of the tampon tax is a landmark moment in the fight against period poverty, and it comes not a moment too soon.
‘The cost of period products remains one of the leading causes of period poverty alongside period stigma and a lack of education for young people about periods.’