Why reduce the tax rate on some sanitary products but not on others?

IT WAS with mixed feelings that I learned of a reduction in the VAT rate on non-oral contraceptives such as condoms.

Fifteen months ago I was involved in drafting a pre-budget submission on behalf of Labour Youth. One of the measures we sought was a reduction in the VAT rate applied to condoms which at that time were more expensive in Ireland than in any other EU country. It is a damning indictment of the Government that it took 15 months for such a simple, low-cost proposal to be implemented. Nevertheless, we must applaud the Government for finally taking some action in the face of rapidly rising sexually transmitted infection rates.

The other measure included in that pre-budget submission 15 months ago was a similar reduction in the VAT rate on tampons. It is incredible that we still apply the luxury rate of VAT to tampons, while the lower rate of 13.5% is applied to other sanitary products. Now that the Government has accepted the first part of our submission, will we have to wait another 15 months for them to accept the second part and stop punishing women for their choice of sanitary products?