Mar 16 - Gibraltar Women's Association Calls On Government To Abolish "Tampon Tax"

Written by YGTV Team on 16 March 2016.

The Gibraltar Women's Association is calling on the Government of Gibraltar to abolish import duties and tax on essential female sanitary items, lowering it from 12% to 0%. 

A statement from the Association said: "A woman will use and throw away on average 11,000 tampons in her lifetime.

"Although Gibraltar does not have VAT per se, we have import duty, which is passed on to the consumer.  Female sanitary items, including towels and tampons, are locally taxed at the higher rate of 12%.

"In contrast to this shaving foam is valued at 3% making it more expensive to be a woman and sanitary products taxed as a luxury item.

"The Gibraltar Women’s Association are calling on the government to be progressive and show the world Gibraltar is a front runner in equality by updating the import and export duty law, and lower the tax to zero percent on this essential product;-including the ecological alternative - Moon Cups."

It has included a list of various items and their tax rate:

Sunglasses                             0%

Cameras                                 0%

Laptops                                  0%

Coffee                                    0%

TV                                         0%

Diamonds and Pearls               0%

Clothing                                 3%

White Goods                           3%

Make up                                 3%

Shaving Foam                         3%

Perfume                                 3%

A spokesperson for the Association added: "On the plus side women can currently enjoy a coffee and bar of chocolate at zero percent tax rate whilst they mull over why we are charged such a high rate on what is a highly essential item."

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