Sanitary pads still costly despite tax relief

What you need to know:

  • Announcing the proposed tax relief, Finance Minister Philip Mpango said the move would help avail cheap towels to females, including especially schools girls who more often than not missed classes during menstruation.

Dar es Salaam. Women in Tanzania say sanitary towels are still highly priced despite the tax relief granted on such products in the current financial year.

When tabling the FY-2018/2019 national budget mid-this year, the government proposed to exempt value-added tax (Vat) on sanitary towels.

Announcing the proposed tax relief, Finance Minister Philip Mpango said the move would help avail cheap towels to females, including especially schools girls who more often than not missed classes during menstruation.

The decision was good news for human rights activists who had been advocating free distribution of the towels to keep girls in class at schools.

However, about a month since the tax exemption took effect on July 1, 2018, women and girls who spoke to The Citizen still feel the pinch of the items high prices.

Marion Kaguo, a food vendor in Dar es Salaam, says “I still buy them at the usual price; there is no change in prices.”

A college student, Neema Stanford, expressed disappointment that sanitary towel prices remain high despite the government’s announcement.

“Impact of the tax relief should’ve come immediately – considering that many school girls skip classes during their menstrual period, especially in the rural areas,” she said. In a random survey, The Citizen established that one girl/woman can spend at least Sh72, 000 a year, inclusive of VAT, on menstrual sanitary towels. This calculation is based on the 144 sanitary pads needed for use yearly – or three pieces used per day at a retail price between Sh2000 and Sh3000 per a pack.

However, some women are forced to use maternity pads, which are sold at Sh15, 000 per a pack.

Government speaks out

Commenting on the matter, the Head of Communications at the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Mr Ben Mwaipaja, told The Citizen that it was still too early to evaluate the prices, because the tax relief became effective only a short while ago: July 1, 2018. Also, the government believes that there are dealers who still have stocks of the products that were acquired before the new tax exemption was announced. That’s why the prices may have remained unchanged until the old stocks are sold off.

“We also expect that the prices will eventually fall as a result of market forces and competition between those who imported the items before the tax relief and those who import after the scrapping of VAT,” Mr Mwaipaja said.

“In any case, we call upon the sanitary pad dealers to reduce their prices – and we’ll establish mechanisms to make sure that they do not exploit the tax exemption for private gains,” he stated.