Last week Tesco became the first supermarket offer tax-free sanitary products to its customers. Waitrose have followed suit this week in a bid to rid the unjust tampon tax.
Both retailers will pay for the 5% tax which will remove the cost of VAT from women’s sanitary products.
Michael Andrews, director at Waitrose, said: "By covering the VAT cost and reducing the price by five per cent, we are confident it will make a difference to our customers."
“For many customers, tampons, panty liners and sanitary towels are essential products,” says Michelle McEttrick, the supermarket’s Group Brand Director, according to the Metro.
“However, the cost of buying them every month can add up and for many women and girls, it can be a real struggle on top of other essential items. That’s why – as a little help for our customers – we are reducing the cost of these products by 5%.”
The UK applies a 5% reduced rate of VAT to the supply of sanitary products. This is apparently the lowest rate possible under EU VAT law. Previous research has suggested that women in UK could be forced to pay £18,450 in their lifetime on feminine hygiene products.
Last year, David Cameron announced that the EU would bring forward proposals so that EU countries could cut the tampon tax down to zero.
This amendment will not be made official until 2018 but Tesco and Waitrose are already ahead of the game.
According to the Sun, the EU Commission said: “As announced in the action plan on VAT, the Commission intends to adopt a legislative proposal by the end of 2017 that would grant Member States more flexibility in setting VAT rates.
“If adopted by the Council, the new rules could result in greater freedom on the number of reduced rates and their level.
“One of the objectives of this proposal, the details of which will be disclosed in due time, will be to restore equality of treatment in the Single Market for those Member States who want to apply reduced rates.”
The tampon tax has been an unfair tax on feminine hygiene products considering these products are essential items for woman and products such as condoms are tax-free. Half the world's population needs to use them for a week each month, every month for about 30 years so the fact these hygiene products are taxed to begin with is baffling.
