UPDATED: 3:45 p.m. GMT with Women's Aid statement
UPDATED: 4:45 p.m. GMT with Refuge statement
LONDON -- Chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to use the £15 million ($22.6 million) raised from the controversial “tampon tax” to support women’s charities in the UK.
Delivering the Autumn Statement on Wednesday, Osborne said that the 5% tax on tampons – categorised by HMRC as “nonessential, luxury” items – will now go to women’s charities, while the UK lobbies the EU to scrap the tax entirely.
£15 million a year raised from the #TamponTax to fund women’s health and support charities #SpendingReview pic.twitter.com/KmvMwmulg9
— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) November 25, 2015
The VAT rate charged on the items is the lowest allowed under EU law, but the government has been prevented from going any lower by European rules. Recent campaigns -- including Bloody Disgrace -- have called on the government to take decisive action against the tax, with mounting pressures for the EU to scrap the tax on sanitary items. A petition demanding a change in the law on sanitary items has gained in excess of 250,000 signatures. In October, the UK Treasury promised to raise the issue of the "tampon tax" with the European Commission. Reactions on Twitter have been largely critical of Osborne's proposal:
So women earn considerably less than men but we have to fund our own services and they don't? #paygap #tampontax — Roxeterawr (@RoxeteraRibbons) November 25, 2015
Maybe prostate cancer treatment should be funded entirely via a tax on Jeremy Clarkson books? Seems fair #tampontax
— Gráinne Maguire (@GrainneMaguire) November 25, 2015
I suppose women entering the menopause will be seen as uncharitable now? #tampontax — Nick Pettigrew (@Nick_Pettigrew) November 25, 2015
So money raised through the #tampontax is going to go to women's services. So we are paying for our own services by bleeding.
— Juniper Berry (@Wytchelm) November 25, 2015
Sandra Horley CBE, chief executive of national domestic violence charity Refuge told Mashable:
Refuge is pleased that the Government has announced £15 million in today’s Autumn Statement for women’s charities. Charities like Refuge provide vital support and a safe-haven for women escaping domestic violence and abuse. Support which literally saves lives. And, this money is desperately needed. Over the last few years funding for these life-saving services has been severely cut. Since 2011, Refuge has experienced a reduction in funding across 80% of its service contracts.
However, Refuge is disappointed that this money has been allocated from funds raised from the ‘Tampon Tax’. Perversely, this is a tax on women to pay for their own protection. A protection which should be their right. The patronising implication, yet again, is that issues like domestic violence are just ‘women’s issues’. But we know that domestic violence must be dealt with by society as a whole if we are ever to see real, lasting change.
We hope that this funding will be part of a longer-term sustainable funding solution to tackle violence against women and look forward to seeing how the funds will be distributed in due course.
Women’s Aid Chief Executive Polly Neate told Mashable:
“We are also pleased that the government has secured a £15 million pot for women’s organisations, which our national and local partners can apply for to support the lifesaving work that they are doing. However, today the Chancellor announced that this money will come from the taxation on sanitary products. Whilst we welcome this money being used to help women, especially at a time where the government are campaigning for sanitary tax to be zero rated, we need to be clear that domestic abuse is not just a women’s problem for taxation on women's products to solve. It is an issue for everyone in society and men and women must address it together.”