UHISA Student Council

Stop taxing periods. Period.

Proposed by:

  1. Rachel Parker 11007417

Seconded by:

  1. Stacey Felgate 13002514
  2. Kal Roderick 12007661
  3. Lizzie Munro 06008090
  4. Rebecca Kynoch11000563
  5. Marta Maria Cecchetto 13001682
  6. Kieran Anderson 13000389
  7. Kate Shiliday 13001361
  8. Scott MacDonald 13000793
  9. Robin Henderson 13009454

UHISA Believes

  1. The government website states “You pay 20% VAT most of the time – but less on essential items” https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-shopping/vat-duties
  2. Sanitary products are classed by HM Revenue and Customs as “non-essential, luxury” items and as such incur tax at 5%
  3. Included in the 0% tax rate are a number of products including: incontinence pads; exotic meats such as horse, kangaroo, ostrich and crocodile; confectionary such as jaffa cakes, marshmallow teacakes and edible cake decorations.
  4. Contraception including hormonal contraceptive pills are available free of charge from the NHS. These include a placebo or free week in which the lining of the uterus is shed similar to natural menstruation.

UHISA Further Believes

1.  Sanitary products are essential to control and manage menstruation and not a luxury, without them people who menstruate would not be able to continue their day to day life and would be at risk of jeopardising their health and that of others.

2.  Essential items should not be taxed because it lessens the product’s accessibility and affordability particularly where it remains essential regardless of a person’s financial situation.

3.  As a natural occurrence for the majority of people with uteruses it is unethical for governments to profit from menstruation.

4.  Some students are resorting to running pills together and skipping their placebo or free week as they can not afford the cost of sanitary products. There has not yet been sufficient research into the risks of this on long term health.

UHISA Resolves

  1. To promote the petition asking for tax on sanitary products to be reduced to 0% https://www.change.org/p/george-osborne-stop-taxing-periods-period
  2. To bulk buy sanitary products to distribute to each academic partner along with information about the issue of period tax so students aren’t financially restricted in their choice to have a period.