The Chamber of Deputies voted against eliminating the 16% VAT on sanitary pads, tampons and menstrual cups.
With 218 votes against, 185 in favor and 11 abstentions, the deputies overthrew the proposal of the Menstruation Digna group, presented by the deputy of the Citizen Movement, Martha Tagle, who seeks a fiscal policy with a gender perspective in which women do not pay taxes related to a biological process that increases social inequality, especially for women with less income in the country.
The initiative aims for these products to be considered basic necessities such as food or medicine and that they be distributed free of charge in schools and to the population with fewer resources.
“You cannot pay a menstruation tax.
If in this rostrum we have discussed and approved fiscal adjustments on other types of goods that affect the personal economy, such as medicines or food, what would be the difference with menstrual management products, "said Morena's deputy, Wendy Briceño.
"Eliminating this tax, which only women pay for a physiological process that we go through naturally, is a matter of tax justice, with which we have to begin to see the issue of taxes," added Deputy Martha Tagle.
The proposal prepared by Fundar, Oxfam Mexico and the Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination in Mexico City (Copred), indicates that VAT is a consumption tax that, unlike other taxes, does not distinguish between who pays it and by therefore, it imposes equal tax burdens despite economic and gender inequality in Mexico.
"In Mexico, public and tax policies lack a gender and human rights perspective, as long as men and women continue to face different socioeconomic realities, tax systems -which are gender-neutral- will affect them differently," explains Paulina Castaño, Tax justice researcher at the Fundar research and analysis center.
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Among the legislators who voted against the measure argue that the measure would put a hole in public finances in the midst of the health crisis and would represent a great benefit for the companies that manufacture these products.
Deputy Tatiana Clouthier abstained and argued through social networks that the measure does not achieve the purpose of achieving a better price for users.
A woman menstruates 2,535 days of her life, which is equivalent to 7 years in a row.
According to INEGI data, more than 63 million women, girls and adolescents in Mexico -between 15 and 50 years- are menstruating today.
Hence, according to Fundar's research, 4 out of 10 live in a situation of multi-dimensional poverty.
"Excise taxes disproportionately affect women and menstruating people who have to make additional expenses to manage their menstruation," says Castaño.
"We need 360 towels or tampons a year, that is, 720 pesos a year, which is equivalent to 5% of the total expenses of a household of the poorest 10% in the country, which is a lot," they point out from Fundar.
According to a recent study by the organization Acción Ciudadana Frente a la Pobreza, in Mexico there is a wage gap of 16% between men and women in paid jobs.
To this must be added gender inequality and the sexist divisions of domestic and care work, without remuneration.
Mexico is not the first country in the region to discuss a measure of this type.
In Latin America there are some initiatives similar to the one that has been proposed in Mexico.
Colombia was the first in Latin America to eliminate the menstruation tax and in Argentina there is a similar legislative proposal.
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