Women petition to axe the tampon tax

A petition to remove GST on sanitary products for women has reached more than 300 signatures.

Petition creator Bridget Healy said the 15 per cent Goods and Services Tax adds $17 million to the cost of tampons and pads each year.

Ms Healy, who is an executive director of green sanitary items company Organic Initiative, said the Government considers these products to be luxury non-essential items, but that some women disagree.

“I don’t think anyone considers it a luxury or a non-essential item to have a tampon or a pad to help them manage their period.

“It’s a biological function that we don’t get to choose,” said Ms Healy.

Ms Healy said GST affects women socially and economically because you’re looking at thousands of dollars a year in tampons and pads.

Ms Healy plans to take the petition to the Health minister Jonathan Coleman.

Dr Coleman’s office and the Ministry of Health declined to comment.

Aditi Gorasoa, Women’s Rights Officer at the Auckland University Student Association, said the association provides free sanitary items to students due to the high cost.

“They’re at least $10 when you buy them, which is an absolute nuisance,” said Miss Gorasoa.

Even if women and men were paid equally, women’s essential costs were higher than that of their male counterparts, she said.

Raewyn Fox, the chief executive of the New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services, said the high cost of women’s sanitary products was significant.

“If they have to buy that stuff it means that there’s less money for food,” said Ms Fox.

Ms Healy is confident she will be able to rally enough support for GST on sanitary products to be dropped.

“If there’s enough noise it can certainly happen - but it’s going to need momentum,” said Ms Healy