Posted on 05/29/2015 3:29:36 AM PDT by rickmichaels
The tampon tax is dead.
The federal government announced Thursday the GST and the federal portion of the HST will no longer be charged on feminine hygiene products starting July 1.
Last year, Canadian women spent about $519,976,963 on tampons, pads and menstrual cups, which put more than $36,398,387 into government coffers, according to Statistics Canada.
"Finally, the government has listened to reason and put an end to this injustice. That is a victory for all women," NDP MP Irene Mathyssen, whose motion earlier this month to nix the tax received all-party support, said in a statement Thursday.
The NDP said the tax "unfairly penalizes women, transgender and other people with periods."
Many consider the tax discriminatory because only women have to pay it and it's for something essential. Activist Jill Piebiak had more than 74,000 supporters for her No Tax on Tampons online petition this spring, but there have been calls to cut the tax ever since the GST was introduced more than 20 years ago.
"I think that this is just a very positive move for Canadian women, and it's in alignment with our government's record in this regard," Minister of State Michelle Rempel said Thursday.
"Regardless of gender, we're all committed in the Conservative caucus to lowering taxes for Canadians," she said.
Four provinces also exempt feminine hygiene products from provincial sales tax: B.C., Ontario, Nova Scotia and Manitoba.
Some items not taxed in Canada:
Cocktail cherries
Cake decorations
Orthodontic devices
Contact lenses
Incontinence products
Artificial limbs
Daycare
Rent and condo fees
Bridge, road and ferry tolls
Music lessons
The jokes will just write themselves on this one.
Yeah I can see them already...they didnt want to get blood on their hands or it’s a tax that stinks...
do the math. 35 million Canadians, 18 million women plus “other people who get periods” about 10 million users and 36 million in taxes. Comes to $3.65/woman/year. Hope they don’t spend it all at once. Cost of collecting it probably exceeded the revenue generated. Don’t think the tax was fair, but this is hardly a major victory for equal rights.
All they’d have to do to justify continuing the tax is simply claim that menstruating women causes global warming.
Smells fishy to me...
Bloody ‘ell, ay?
Why should any products be exempt from basic sales tax?
George Harrison missed a lyric for Tax Man:
“They’ll tax you when you bleed....”
The manufacturers will just raise their prices to make up the difference.
Indeed it does. Maybe the government finally figured out, that it was blood money, and stopped it. 😱
I certainly have been to PA.
My question was why, not who does, special taxation.
There we go. Lower the tax rate, apply it to everything and quit having government pick winners and losers.
Most tiresome joke ever.
We thought it was bloody funny...
Well the logic here is not very different from the repeal of this tampon tax in Canada. That to tax certain items is unfair to “da workin’ man”. Or women. Or whatever preferred pressure group is the flavor of the week. Here groceries, basic clothing (jeans, not fur coats) and certain health care items are not taxed.
The results can have mind-bending consequences. We have here in PA something called the “Five Donut Rule”. If you purchase 5 donuts or more, they are treated as food/grocery and not taxed. But if you purchase 4 or less, you are presumed to be consuming them on the premises, and thus they are considered restaurant food and taxed. Sewing thread is taxable, unless you tell the cashier that you are going to use it to make clothing, in which case it is not.
It's a 5% value-added tax that is charged to the consumer at the register. Nothing to do with the manufacturers.
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