In his media release today Mike Kelly has announced that a Shorten Labor Government will end Australia’s unfair and discriminatory “tampon tax”, partnering with the states and territories to remove the GST on women’s sanitary products.
"This is an unfair tax on women in Eden-Monaro and it is time that it ended.
"Australian women are hit with 10 per cent GST on these products, around $30 million a year in tax, because they are not considered necessities.
"At the same time, products such as incontinence pads, sunscreen and nicotine patches – even Viagra – are exempt from the tax.
"I’m calling on Malcolm Turnbull to announce plans in next week’s Budget to scrap the tampon tax.
"If Mr Turnbull fails to adopt Labor’s policy, a Shorten Labor Government will work with state and territory governments to scrap the tax urgently upon coming to office.
Mr Kelly said that "To offset the loss of revenue to the states from GST on sanitary items, GST will be applied consistently to 12 natural therapies that are sometimes GST free, such as herbalism and naturopathy thus bringing their GST treatment into line with the bipartisan policy to remove the private health insurance rebate from the 12 natural therapies."
"These natural therapies are not supported by clinical evidence, as the Commonwealth’s Chief Medical Officer and the National Health and Medical Research Council found in a review in 2015.
"At a time when government budgets are tight, the GST health exemption should only cover items with proven clinical effectiveness.
"Scrapping the tampon tax will make sanitary products more affordable – but just as importantly, it will be an important step forward in gender equity. Media Release
