The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has announced that the government will prioritise implementations to remove taxes on locally produced sanitary pads.
He made this known during the presentation of the 2024 budget in parliament on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
According to the minister, import duty waivers for raw materials for the local manufacture of sanitary pads should be granted with no delay.
“Mr. Speaker, further to the above, the following reliefs have been prioritised for implementation: Extend zero rate of VAT on locally manufactured African prints for two(2) more years; Waive import duties on import of electric vehicles for public transportation for a period of 8 years; Zero rate VAT on locally produced sanitary pads; Grant import duty waivers for raw materials for the local manufacture of sanitary pads,” he said
The government’s decision to remove taxes on locally produced sanitary pads comes following a group of civil society organisations demanding the removal of taxes on sanitary pads that collaborated with the Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu’s, move to propose a Private Members Bill to achieve this aim.
The bill by the Madina MP seeks an amendment of the Customs Tariffs and Levies to remove the 15% VAT Act, 2022 (Act 1082), to reclassify menstrual hygiene products from final consumer goods to zero-rated essential social goods.
The proposed bill seeks to amend the VAT (Amendment) Act, 2022 (Act 1082) to remove the VAT on sanitary pads and tampons. It will also push for the reclassification of the 20 percent import tax on final consumer goods to zero-rated essential social goods and proscribe future taxation of such essential social goods.
