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And yet, the Government doesn’t
classify sanitary items as “essential”
under the Goods and Services Tax. When
the GST was introduced in 2000, the
then-Liberal Government made a list
of items that they deemed “essential” and
therefore exempt from the 10 per cent
GST, and items they labelled as “luxury”,
which are subject to GST. For example,
essential items are staples such as bread,
milk, meat, fruit, vegetables, sunscreen.
Luxury items are the “nice-to-haves”
but which you can live without – like
cupcakes, perfume, lipstick, restaurant
meals, takeaway coffee, etc. So far, so
logical. But why the hell have tampons
ended up on the luxury list? It’s not like
any woman ever said, “You know what?
Cash is a bit tight this month, I’m not
going to ‘treat’ myself to a packet of
tampons. This month I’ll go without.”
It isn’t hard for any logical person to
come to the conclusion that tampons
are an obvious essential.
There have been a few efforts to
get the tax scrapped over the past 15
years – but none of them have been as
successful or far-reaching as the GetUp!
petition recently launched by Sydney
University student Subeta Vimalarajah.
At the time of printing, the 22-year-old’s
petition had over 62,000 signatures and
had been featured on Triple J’s Hack, The
Project and BuzzFeed. Greens Senator
Larissa Waters has weighed in, saying,
“Sanitary items are essentials. Making
them more expensive [only] exacerbates
our nation’s gender inequality problem.”
Vimalarajah launched the campaign in
response to a call from Federal Treasurer
Joe Hockey for community feedback
about the GST in general. On March
30, Hockey asked Australians for ideas
to “bring a tax system built before the
1950s into the new century.” The time
was right, Vimalarajah figured, for a
review of GST on tampons and pads.
“I never thought it would get such
a huge response,” said Vimalarajah. “I’m
only one person. But I did know that it
was a topic that a lot of people had very
strong opinions about. When Joe Hockey
made the first move and asked for our
input into a tax review, I just thought,‘Why not now?’” Vimalarajah’s plan is
two-pronged: first, there’s the petition.
After you’ve signed, you’re redirected
to a page where you can directly submit
a letter to Hockey’s website, bettertax.
gov.au. So far, over 6000 people have
done this additional, important step.
But while Vimalarajah’s petition
has gained a lot of attention and support,
it’s not the first time a campaign like this
has launched – and failed. When the tax
was first introduced, there were protests
over the inclusion of pads and tampons- and the comparative exemption of items
like condoms, personal lubricants and
sunscreen. In 2006, prominent feminist
and writer Clem Bastow launched a
similar petition. Nine years on, it’s still
a topic she “grizzles” about. “It’s really
incredible that items [that are] essential
to menstruating people’s dignity and
health are considered ‘luxuries’. Are we
meant to use rags?”
In 2009, there was some talk of
the then-PM Kevin Rudd repealing the
tax, but it never happened. In response,
Coles supermarkets shaved 10 per cent
off the price of all feminine hygiene
products, to offset the GST. Sadly, that
promotion no longer exists and Coles
spokesperson Jasmine Zweibel says the
company has no comment on the GST
of these products. And in 2013, student
Sophie Liley started a similar petition
to Vimalarajah’s that ended up gaining
over 45,000 signatures.
So why are pads and
tampons taxed, when
condoms aren’t?
The rationale was that items which
“treated an illness or a disease or a
disability” would be exempt, according
to Judith Whitworth, who was part of
the committee that built the framework
for the GST. Since pads and tampons
don’t fit into those guidelines, they were
subject to the tax. The then-Treasurer,
Michael Wooldridge, copped a lot of
criticism when he said, “Condoms prevent
illness. I wasn’t aware that menstruation
was an illness.” Pushed further, he toldAs I write
this, I have
my period.
The mere thought of
not using a pad or
tampon while I’m
menstruating is: (a)
gross, (b) unhygienic
and (c) impractical.
I couldn’t leave my
house without using
them. I’d be putting
the health of others
at risk without them.
Not to mention
that I’d feel really
disgusting and
uncomfortable. Oh,
and my drycleaning
bill would skyrocket.