PAS DE TAXES SUR MES TAMPONS! La pétition en français.
Remember to print, sign and send in a hard copy of the petition in English or in French.

Did you know that households across Canada are paying GST on menstrual hygiene products?

According to the Government of Canada all menstrual hygiene products are considered a non-essential item or luxury.

To add insult to injury, items like incontinence products(1), cocktail cherries(2), human sperm(3), and wedding cakes(4) are not subject to GST.

But we all know that buying tampons, pads, moon/diva cups, or panty liners is not optional. These products are an essential part of a normal, public life for people with periods.

Member of Parliament Irene Mathyssen introduced Bill C-282, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (feminine hygiene products), on October 16, 2013. Sign this petition and send a letter to our parliamentarians to show your support for Bill C-282 and that you disagree with this archaic taxation.

You won’t even know it’s there.

It’s rare to check your grocery bill for how much GST you’ve paid on each individual purchase. So taxes on menstrual hygiene products often go unnoticed.

Though GST has decreased from 7% to 5% across the board, people with periods are still unfairly paying into the system. In 2014, it’s estimated that approximately 17,876,392 Canadian women between the ages of 12–49 spent about $519,976,963.00 on menstrual hygiene products.(5)

That means the government collected approximately $36,398,387.00 in government sales taxes because our uteruses did what they do naturally.(6)

Our government makes money off of our bodies.

Don’t tax periods—period.

A small tax on tampons/pads/panty liners/menstrual cups adds up when combined with the systemic challenges many women, trans people, genderqueer people, and other menstruators face in terms of their income, housing, and economic stability.

This has been a longstanding argument of government critics. When a similar bill was brought to the floor in 2004, Member of Parliament Judy Wasylycia-Leis said, “The GST on tampons and sanitary napkins amounts to gender-based taxation. The taxing of essential and necessary products used exclusively by women is unfair and discriminatory. It unfairly disadvantages women (7) financially, solely because of our reproductive role. The bill would benefit all Canadian women at some point in their lives and would be of particular value to lower income women.” (8)

We don’t need to go with the flow! 

Together, we can call to get rid of this tax. Sign the petition and share it with your friends—let our elected officials know that you won’t stand for this unfair tax any longer.

Private members’ bills like Bill C-282, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (feminine hygiene products), rarely become law; however, any bill may be brought to second reading if it is the government’s will. Let’s show the Conservative Government what we stand for and demand this bill be passed.

Let’s let the government know we are essential!

Remember to print, sign and send in a hard copy of the petition.

Endnotes:
1. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gm/4-2/4-2-e.html
2. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gm/4-3/4-3-e.html#_Toc155586103
3. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gm/4-1/4-1-e.html#Human_sperm
4. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gm/4-3/4-3-e.html#_Toc155586103 "The supply of a decorated wedding cake is zero‑rated as long as it is food for human consumption, supplied by the cake decorator, and it weighs at least 230 grams. The supply of a decorated artificial cake that is not for human consumption (e.g., the cake is made of Styrofoam) is subject to GST/HST at the rate of 5% or 13%. However, if the decorated cake is a combination of artificial and real cake layers, the entire wedding cake is zero‑rated as long as at least one of the layers is real cake supplied by the decorator, and it weighs at least 230 grams."
5. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Lv8WrttkkjaG1BUlJaZkxLMzA/view?usp=sharing
6. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Lv8WrttkkjaG1BUlJaZkxLMzA/view?usp=sharing
7. We echo the passion which Judy brings to the issue and want to push this bill forward to the benefit all who menstruate.
8. Hansard – 12-13-04 – Introduction of PMB to exempt feminine hygiene products from GST