NDP's effort to end tampon tax finally wins support from Conservative government

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      It's a tweet that cynics will say could only come in an election year.

      The Conservative minister for the status of women, Kellie Leitch, declared over social media that her government will "support the motion to remove the GST from feminine hygiene products".

      The message came in response to an NDP attempt in Parliament to remove what's known as the "tampon tax".

      The government says that this will occur in the next federal budget, which won't be introduced until 2016. But NDP MPs argue it should be done now.

      According to CBC News, the GST on feminine hygiene products generates about $36 million per year.

      A petition on change.org has this simple message: "Don't tax periods—period."

      "To add insult to injury, items like incontinence products, cocktail cherries, human sperm, and wedding cakes are not subject to GST," the petition states. "But we all know that buying tampons, pads, moon/diva cups, or panty liners is not optional. These products are an essential part of a normal, public life for people with periods."

      NDP MP Irene Mathyssen's private member's bill seeks to amend tax law to exempt feminine hygiene products.

      Back in 2004, then-NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis said that the GST on tampons and sanitary napkins "amounts to gender-based taxation".

      "The taxing of essential and necessary products used exclusively by women is unfair and discriminatory," she declared.

      Eleven years later, it seems that the federal government is finally absorbing the message.

      Comments

      1 Comments

      Zygote421

      May 9, 2015 at 7:04pm

      Put a deposit on them and make them recyclable.