Taxes on sanitary pads unfair - Speaker of Parliament asserts

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has expressed strong abhorrence at the imposition of taxes on sanitary pads in the country.

He described the passage of laws by Parliament to impose the tax on sanitary pads as “unconscionable and a cardinal sin.”

“This House should not have allowed it at all; you know the impact of that law on human resource development and the development of this country is immeasurable,” he observed.

Some of the taxes on sanitary pads are the 12.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) and 20 per cent import duty.

Questionable legislature  

Addressing Parliament yesterday, Mr Bagbin said: “Why should we pass a law imposing tax on sanitary pads?”

“We have to take immediate action to prevent whoever is the minister and is proposing it to take it off,” he said.

Petition

The Speaker expressed those sentiments to members of the House when he informed the House of a petition he had received from civil society and non-profit organisations who called themselves the Socialist Movement of Ghana who had picketed the premises of Parliament yesterday.

He subsequently suspended sitting for 10 minutes to go and receive the petition from the group whose members, clad in red attire and armbands, carried placards emphasising the need to suspend taxes on sanitary pads.

Some of the placards read: “You cannot tax my period”, “We are already bleeding. Don’t tax our period”, “Don’t consider sanitary pads as luxury products” and “It is unfair and discriminatory to tax bleeding young girls.”

Self-imposed restrictions

Prior to going to meeting the protesters, the Speaker said since the impact of tax on sanitary pads had immeasurable impact, the next budget statement must not contain any tax on sanitary pads.

Sounding very emotional, Mr Bagbin said: “Please, I take a very serious view of this matter.”

He particularly expressed the worry over the manner in which Parliament had imposed what he called some restrictions on itself.

The Speaker said per the concept of Ghana’s democracy, the option that Ghanaians had chosen, which was captured in the 1992 Constitution, the Executive was not more powerful than Parliament.

"But this is self-imposed; we have just handed over all our powers to exactly what the Supreme Court said recently. We gave our authority to the Executive to be imposing restrictions during the COVID-19 era. 

“I said it on the floor that it was wrong for Parliament to legislate and give its responsibility and hand it over on a silver platter to the Executive. The Supreme Court has ruled, saying that was unconstitutional,” Mr Bagbin averred.

Scrap taxes  

The spokesperson for the movement, Ama Pratt, said the imposition of the two taxes had caused a significant increase in prices.

She said that had made sanitary pads expensive for many women and girls who made up 51 per cent of Ghana’s population, adding that “we are responsible for recreation and our period is first of recreation.”

“Taxing sanitary pads at birth is unconscionable and this is something that should not happen,” Ms Pratt said.

“Look at the girl-child who is struggling with food, water and trying to get a schoolbag and uniforms, and on top of that what she used to buy for GH¢5, you put an impediment in the way of the girl-child, is unacceptable,” she stressed.

Ms Pratt, therefore, urged the government to scrap the taxes on sanitary pads to make life more comfortable for women and girls.

Don’t remove taxes

While women groups and other CSOs push for the removal of taxes on sanitary pads, private sector bodies such as the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has cautioned the government against implementing a policy that would remove taxes on imported sanitary pads, while disregarding local manufacturers.

The association said such a measure would have severe negative consequences for the economy.

It is the case of the AGI that it would inevitably lead to the demise of the remaining local sanitary pad factories. 

In a statement signed by the Chief Executive Office of the AGI, Seth Twum-Akwaboah, the association said the call for the removal of duties on imported sanitary pads was misplaced.

Manufacturers’ petition 

In another petition to the government, local manufacturers of hygienic sanitary pads rather requested the exemption of imported raw materials from VAT and import duty. 

They argued that such tax reliefs would result in more affordable sanitary pads for approximately 70 per cent of young women in impoverished communities.

Writer’s email: nana.agyeman@graphic.com.gh