Budget will axe tampon tax as Britain breaks free of EU rules

THE controversial “tampon tax” will be scrapped in next week’s Budget, as Britain breaks free from EU rules.

Brussels laws have prevented the Treasury from reducing the VAT rate on sanitary products below five per cent, meaning tampons and pads are treated as luxury items and not essentials.

But Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, plans to scrap the levy on January 1, the first day the bloc’s rules no longer apply to the UK. Ending the tax on pads and tampons will save the average woman almost £40 over her lifetime.

The tampon tax raises £15million a year for the Treasury, which, in recent years, has donated the money to women’s charities and organisations. The Tampon Tax Fund was established in 2015 and has so far allocated £47million for charities working with vulnerable women and girls.

Laura Coryton, a campaigner who launched a Change.org petition in 2014, said: “This is amazing and such a cause for celebration. So many people have been campaigning about this for generations and finally we’re being listened to.”

Vivienne Hayes, chief executive of the Women’s Resource Centre charity, said: “We are over the moon to learn of this news, tampons and sanitary towels were never luxury items and should never have been subject to VAT.”

She also urged Boris Johnson to spend the £700million they estimate has been raised during the tax’s lifetime to be paid to women’s charities.

Critics have criticised the tax for contributing to “period poverty”, where sanitary products are pushed out of reach because of their cost.