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After Months of Protests, Tampons Will No Longer Be a ‘Luxury Good’ in France
http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/12/14/tampon-tax-france?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2015-12-14When French lawmakers voted down an amendment in October that would have slashed a tax on tampons and other women’s hygiene items, activists took to the streets of Paris to protest what they saw as an unfair charge on products that are essential to half the country’s population.
Now the government seems to have had a change of heart—and feminist groups are claiming victory.Following months of outrage, France’s National Assembly on Friday ruled in favor of reducing the country’s tax on tampons and sanitary pads from 20 percent to 5.5 percent, Agence France-Presse reported. Despite opposition from lawmakers who argued the country would lose millions of dollars a year without the tax, Prime Minister Manuel Valls supported the decision, calling it a “step in the right direction.” While the tax wasn’t cut entirely, the lowered rate is equivalent to the French national consumption tax levied on non-luxury items including food, water, nonalcoholic beverages, and even books.
Taxes on women’s hygiene products have increasingly spurred protests around the world this year. Many activists reason that the tax financially punishes women, who on average earn about a quarter less than their male counterparts globally, according to a United Nations report released in April. Last month, a group of students in the United Kingdom publicly opposed the country’s 5 percent tax on tampons and other women’s sanitary products by “free bleeding”—forgoing tampons or pads—on the steps of Parliament.
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These are the U.S. states that tax women for having periods
by Taryn Hillin | June 03, 2015 12:33 p.m.
Thanks to public pressure, Canada just became the first country to axe the “tampon tax”—the sales tax imposed on tampons, sanitary napkins, and other feminine hygiene products. Now, more and more women in countries like the U.K., Australia—and the U.S.—are demanding their governments do the same.
... Tampons, however, are rarely considered a necessity by state governments, and most states do not allow exemptions for them (nor do they even list them in their tax codes). Yet as every woman who has ever gotten her period knows, feminine hygiene products are not a choice; they’re a required part of being a woman. And the costs for these products can add up.
... Despite growing calls for tampon taxes to be eliminated in this country, we were unable to find a comprehensive listing of the states that do (and don’t) charge women for having a period. So we embarked on looking up every state’s tax code and reached out to every state’s Department of Revenue to see were they stand—and compiled the map above.
Sadly, only five states have actively made decisions not to tax tampons: Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Jersey. The rest either don’t have a sales tax or don’t consider tampons a “necessity.” ...
by Taryn Hillin | June 03, 2015 12:33 p.m.
Thanks to public pressure, Canada just became the first country to axe the “tampon tax”—the sales tax imposed on tampons, sanitary napkins, and other feminine hygiene products. Now, more and more women in countries like the U.K., Australia—and the U.S.—are demanding their governments do the same.
... Tampons, however, are rarely considered a necessity by state governments, and most states do not allow exemptions for them (nor do they even list them in their tax codes). Yet as every woman who has ever gotten her period knows, feminine hygiene products are not a choice; they’re a required part of being a woman. And the costs for these products can add up.
... Despite growing calls for tampon taxes to be eliminated in this country, we were unable to find a comprehensive listing of the states that do (and don’t) charge women for having a period. So we embarked on looking up every state’s tax code and reached out to every state’s Department of Revenue to see were they stand—and compiled the map above.
Sadly, only five states have actively made decisions not to tax tampons: Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New Jersey. The rest either don’t have a sales tax or don’t consider tampons a “necessity.” ...