Bagbin Fires Government Over Sanitary Pad Taxes, Says We Must Not We Must Not Burden Women

• The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has criticised the government for maintaining taxes on sanitary pads
• Bagbin said it was not right for the government to burden women with taxes on sanitary pads
• The Speaker of Parliament also urged the government to learn from countries that did not tax sanitary pads

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has told the government to rethink the taxes on sanitary pads.

Speaking in Parliament, Bagbin criticised the government for not withdrawing the taxes in the mid-year budget review.

Bagbin spoke on the issue when the Sefwi Akontombra MP, Alex Tetteh Djornobuah, justified the tax on sanitary pads during a debate.

The speaker was also concerned that locally produced sanitary pads were also taxed.

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"The businesses met me two days ago, [and told me that] even the raw materials are taxed. They were complaining about production, to the extent that some of them folded up. This is something that I take seriously."

"Don’t let us miss the point, I will not tax a woman, my mother, for producing me. I don’t support that at all, so the state must take this matter seriously," Bagbin said.

The speaker further urged the government to learn from counties that do not tax sanitary pads.

Opposition to taxes on sanitary pads

There have been consistent campaigns for the scrapping of taxes on pads.

YEN.com.gh has, for example, reported that actress Lydia Forson was very vocal in her opposition to such taxes.

She complained that the sanitary pads had been turned into a political weapon with the luxury tax and VAT imposed on them.

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The government was criticised for maintaining some taxes burdening Ghanaians during the budget review.

The government did not make any downward reviews or remove any taxes during the review.

Paul Frimpong, a Development Economist with the Africa-China Centre for Policy & Advisory, told YEN.com.gh that tax relief for businesses would have helped the economy.

Source: YEN.com.gh