Supermarket shoulders 5% VAT on women’s sanitary products for own-label and other brands following campaignTesco has become the first UK supermarket to cover the cost of the tampon tax for customers, after it cut the price of nearly 100 women’s sanitary products by 5%. The retailer said that the move – which sees Tesco absorb the cost of VAT, set at 5% on sanitary items – would help women who found themselves in financial difficulty. Campaigners have been demanding that the government scraps VAT entirely on women’s sanitary products for years, but due to EU rules it has been unable to lower the rate below 5%. Until then, the government promised to spend the revenue from the tax on women’s charities, initially including the anti-abortion and pregnancy counselling organisation Life. Paula Sherriff, the Labour MP who has led the campaign against the tampon tax, has praised Tesco’s decision and called on its rivals to follow suit.

Source: The Guardian July 28, 2017 17:36 UTC