"Many women have made a stand for it and we are putting it on the way," said Olaf Scholz, SPD. Finally, there is movement in the debate about tax cuts for menstrual items - which has long been demanded by women activists.
Scholz presented the Bundestag with a formulation aid. The sales tax on products for the purpose of the monthly hygiene is thus to be reduced from 19 to 7 percent. "Because it is correct to apply the reduced tax rate," said Scholz. That must happen now also fast. "My suggestion is that it will come into effect on January 1st."
The amendment is to be included in the draft of the Annual Tax Act, which is currently being discussed by the Bundestag. Most recently, the Union faction also voted in favor of lowering the tax rate for tampons and sanitary napkins. The topic is already being discussed by the Federal Council.
Politics fears chaos around sales tax
Thuringia had recently introduced an initiative to the State Chamber, according to which hygiene products for women should be placed on the list of products with a reduced VAT rate. Proponents of the tax reduction argue that important everyday goods are actually taxed at the reduced rate of 7 percent.
In some states, the tax on monthly hygiene articles has already been reduced or abolished altogether. The EU Parliament called on the Member States to do so. More than 180,000 people have signed a petition for the "Tampon Tax" on the Internet in recent years under the motto "The period is not a luxury".
The reduced VAT rate is intended for essential everyday goods. The fiscal spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Lothar Binding, said: "The confusion in sales tax will not be smaller." The Union faction refuses for many years, the aspirations of the SPD to ensure more order, so Binding.
The Federal Court of Auditors also sees the planned changes in the VAT system as critical. "The wild growth in the reduced sales tax has to be checked, has to be tackled in principle before new exceptions are allowed," said Court of Auditors President Kay Scheller the "Handelsblatt".
