I AGREE NO MORE TAX ON WOMEN!

We’re campaigning to get the GST on tampons removed – for good!

From the #Metoo movement to the debate over the gender pay gap, women’s equality is a hot topic across the world. And the fact that Australian women pay GST on tampons and sanitary items is among the issues at the top of the agenda.

Since 2000, women have been paying GST on tampons and sanitary items. That’s because they’re deemed to be “nonessential” – unlike fresh food, toilet paper, health insurance, lubricants and medical items. Even Viagra is deemed “essential” and therefore not subject to the tax.

When GST was introduced, it was meant to be fair and simple, but we believe it’s not. So, Woman’s Day is among the Australian publications driving I AGREE, No Gender Selective Tax – a multi-platform campaign to remove the GST on tampons. We also agree it’s #bloodyannoying!

We’re joined in our cause by a host of notable public figures, including world champion swimmer Bronte Campbell. “As an elite swimmer, there are times I literally need tampons to get the job done,” Bronte says. “No Australian woman would call sanitary items non-essential.”

ONE POWERFUL VOICE

Woman’s Day is joining some of Australia’s other favourite entertainment, food, home, fashion and beauty magazines and websites – including The Australian Women’s Weekly, ELLE, Harper’s BAZAAR, Money and Cosmopolitan – to campaign to get signatures to help make this change happen. Also known as a “pink tax”, GST on tampons is gender discrimination – yet is legal because it’s a tax law. You have to ask: is it a Goods and Services Tax or is it, in reality, a Gender Selective Tax?

“A woman’s menstrual cycle is fundamental to the creation of human life. It’s not a luxury to be taxed!” – Leisel Jones, Aussie Olympian

AT WHAT COST?

Some argue that the $800 to $1000 that women and households would save over a lifetime if the tax were abolished doesn’t sound a lot.

However, for women on low incomes, homeless or living in poverty, it’s yet another cost on an unavoidable and already expensive item. For women, tampons and sanitary products are not a luxury purchase.

Australian Olympic swimming star and television personality Leisel Jones says the campaign to remove GST on tampons is a matter of principle, because sanitary products are not discretionary items.

“A woman’s menstrual cycle is fundamental to the creation of human life,” she says. “It’s not a luxury to be taxed!”

“No Australian woman would call sanitary items non-essential.” – Bronte Campbell, world champion