What is Tampon Tax? Will We Always Have to Pay it?

Tax is a part of life, as are periods. The standard tax rate which applies to the majority of goods and services is 20%. However, some products are charged at a reduced rate of 5%. This reduced rate includes children’s car seats, bike helmets, energy-saving materials and sanitary products. However, this 5% tampon tax is still potentially 5% too much for something women need to go about their everyday life. 

Should Sanitary Products be a Luxury?  

Currently, sanitary products, such as tampons and pads are classed as a luxury item, a nice to have. These “non-essential” items are then seen to have the 5% tax added to them, driving the price up further. There are talks of scrapping the tampon tax when we leave the EU, as that is where the restriction from removing the tax comes from. But that could be a long way off!

Not so fun fact. Men’s razors do not have tax added to them. Even though they too, could be classed as luxury. 

In Australia, they are being very forward-thinking and have gotten rid of any tax on sanitary products. Good job, Australia! Hopefully, the UK will be next to show that we care about period poverty. 

Some supermarkets in the UK have decided to pay the tampon tax themselves, to keep the price of sanitary products low. These companies include Tesco, Co-Op and Waitrose. 

Pricey Periods

Periods can cost an average of £492 a year. But this could be more if you have particularly heavy periods or one more than every 28 days. In fact, this cost is causing one in four women to be unable to afford sanitary products. People in the survey were having to makeshift sanitary products, borrow from friends or they were just unable to afford them in any way. 

Our Remedy

We care about helping to prevent period poverty. When we get an order for Our Remedy CBD we donate a pack of organic panty-liners to help relieve period poverty. We believe in self-care, not selfish care. Read more about our contributions here