Harper government supports removal of federal tax on tampons

In a move few saw coming, the Conservative Federal Government is backing the motion to remove the federal tax – GST – on tampons and other feminine products.

Addressed in the House of Commons, the government’s parliamentary secretary Susan Truppe confirmed the government supports the motion and will consider the proposal in future budgets.

The decision comes after pressure from the New Democrat party which has been trying for about a decade to get a motion passed on the subject.

During session on May 7, the issue of taxation on feminine hygiene products was petitioned by dozens of NDP Members of Parliament, including Libby Davies, the NDP MP for Vancouver East.

The issue moved to debates on Friday and a vote will be called next week.

The “Tampon Tax” has hit the media by force this past year with dozens of movements aimed at eliminating the various taxes placed worldwide on female sanitary products. In Canada, the movement targets the Federal Government’s Goods and Services Tax (GST), an extra five per cent placed on goods parliament deems “non-essential”.

While many items are exempt or zero-rated (GST charge of zero per cent), such as groceries and prescription drugs, tampons are not. This makes many question the government’s perception of “non-essential”, especially seeing that items such as music lessons, tobacco leaves and agriculture products are classified as “essential” and are not taxed.

So far, over 73,000 people have signed the Canadian Change.org petition against tampon taxes.

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