Tax-Free Bleeding! No GST On Sanitary Napkins
It’s been a wonderful start to the week. First of all, how interesting is our parliament? Thugs and hugs galore. And then there was news for us women to rejoice. Sanitary napkins are finally exempt from GST. You know, we were paying 12% tax for menstruating, right?
Yeah, for a year, the government remained unimpressed with our period skills. I mean, we simply weren’t doing enough to NOT get them. Except getting pregnant, which really isn’t the ideal solution. Now, in what has to be an epiphany, the GST council thought, ‘ Hey, you know what women shouldn’t have to pay for? A basic biological function.’ There were cheers all around from women whose voices matter.
https://twitter.com/fayedsouza/status/1020651811391221761
Huge win for us all -Sanitary napkins to be exempt from GST!
Thank you, GSTCouncil for doing what’s right by the women of India & dropping the #lahukalagaan @SheSaysIndia had filed a PIL over this issue along with other prayers in 2017.https://t.co/JjUmIRPtn8— Trisha Shetty (@TrishaBShetty) July 21, 2018
However, not everyone was thrilled about this development. Some are arguing that not receiving the tax benefit may actually drive the prices up. Another fear is that taking away the benefit offered to manufacturers under GST may cause the market to be flooded with Chinese goods.
While there isn’t clarity on the issue yet, we just hope we are paying less. It’s bloody unfair for it to be any other way!