Broken promises over tampon tax

We were pleased to see coverage of the ingenuity of some German women to highlight the ongoing issue of taxing period products, which are a necessity, not a luxury for women and girls (Report, 22 June). Here in the UK, books and tampons are also joining forces. Ranjit Kaur, author of the recently published The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, is supporting our tampon tax campaign by donating a share of the profits from the book to the campaign. As your article rightly notes, we at WRC have expressed our dismay that the then chancellor’s promise – to fund women’s health and support charities with monies raised from this tax – has been broken. We estimate that the debt of the tampon tax is well over £700m and we are building a campaign to get at least £500m of this ringfenced for women’s specialist charities, and hold the government to account on its promise. In its media campaign, the Inland Revenue claims that “tax shouldn’t be taxing”. Equally, tampons shouldn’t be taxed. However, they are and that money should go to women’s charities. Period.
Vivienne Hayes
CEO, Women’s Resource Centre

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition