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Evan Bartlett
Oct 28, 2015
Stella Creasy has been praised for her performance in the House of Commons on Tuesday where she not only forced a male Tory MP to utter the words "tampon tax" but also for explaining exactly why sanitary products should not be considered a "luxury item".
The Labour MP was campaigning for the 5 per cent tax on sanitary products to be abolished as part of an amendment to the Finance Bill.
She pointed out that the arbitrary levy was a result of an "unequal society in which the concerns of women are not treated as equally as the concerns of men" and compared tampons to a whole host of other products - including Jaffa Cakes and pitta bread - which are somehow deemed a necessity of life.
Stella Creasy explains why tampons are not 'luxury' items"Tampons and sanitary towels have always been considered a luxury...that is by design of an unequal society."Stella Creasy discusses a proposed amendment to the Finance Bill to renegotiate the 5 per cent tax applied to sanitary products because they are considered a ‘luxury item’.
Posted by Channel 4 News on Tuesday, 27 October 2015
Tampons and sanitary towels, even I'm struggling with the words tonight it seems, have always been considered a luxury. That isn't by accident, that's by design of an unequal society, in which the concerns of women are not treated as equally as the concerns of men.
Jaffa Cakes are zero rated, now I am not a fan of Jaffa Cakes, let it be known. If you offer me a Jaffa Cake I will refuse, but I do not consider them to be essential to my life. I can give or take them.
I recognise that razors are zero rated, judging by some of the members opposite, the opportunity to shave everyday is for many of them a human right. They are cleanly shaven, I'm sure they would be concerned to be charged in that way. So too perhaps one we can all agree on, as a necessity.
Pitta bread is zero rated. What is the kebab, without a good pitta bread around it? It is a necessity?
It is when you start looking at what is described as a necessity and what is described as a luxury, that you see the inequalities in this debate.
While the government narrowly won the vote, meaning the 5 per cent levy won't be abolished immediately, they did promise to raise it with EU leaders.
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