India has joined the likes of Kenya, Canada and Ireland in officially abolishing the tax that is placed

on women’s sanitary items, and people are wondering when Australia will do the same. India’s
abolishment of the 12% tax has placed increasing pressure on Australian governments to follow suit
and do the same. Joana Veiga on twitter said: “India scraps tampon tax, when will the ‘first world’
join?”
Australia currently has a 10% goods and services tax (GST) that is placed on all women’s sanitary
items, including tampons, pads and panty liners. Earlier this month popular television news program
‘The Project’ released a story about India axing the tampon tax. Facebook user Stefania El-Khoury
has said in response to the ‘The Projects’ story: “It’s absolutely disgraceful that Australia hasn’t yet
abolished this ridiculous tax on women.”
However, it appears that the increasing pressure on the Australian government to get rid of this tax
has paid off. Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison told The Saturday Telegraph earlier this month that the
tax was an “anomaly” and has called for the state treasurers to address the question of continuing the
tax at their next meeting in October this year. Before any concrete changes can be made to the 10%
GST on sanitary items, the State treasurers must all sign off on Morrison’s proposed changes.
NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas and Queensland MP Stirling
Hinchcliffe have all told 9 News they would be happy to back the move to finally end the tampon tax
in Australia.
However, it seems some Australians think that the Australian government ending the tax now is too
little, too late. It also seems as if most Australian women think the tax should have never been
introduced in the first place.
Facebook user Liz Porters responded to the 9 News post regarding Scott Morrisons proposition on
axing the tax. “The tax should have never been introduced in the first place, can you claim 17 years of
tax back on your tax return??”
With 30 likes and counting on Porters’ post, it appears she is not the only one who feels strongly
about the issue.
Whether or not Australia will be the next to join India in abolishing the tampon tax will be decided in
October, but until then it appears the 10% GST on sanitary items for women is here to stay.

Other Relevant sources:

- https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/08/04/05/14/scott-morrison-federal-treasurer-
tampon-tax-gst-sanitary-pads-feminine-hygiene?ocid=social-9news (9 News story)
- https://www.sbs.com.au/news/india-scraps-controversial-tampon-tax-after-campaign (SBS)
- https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/treasurer-scott-morrison-scraps-tampon-tax-
urges-states-to-do-same/news-story/f7d66fe209b99887a78f00bafed4c8cc (Daily Telegraph)