The Member of Parliament for the Ketu North Constituency, Abla Dzifa Gomashie is worried about taxes placed on sanitary pads.
Madam Gomashie lamented that the high rate of tax on sanitary pads makes life difficult for girls during their menstrual periods. This, she expressed has compelled many girls to veer into transactional sex to be able to afford them.
She has therefore called on government to scrap all taxes on sanitary pads into order for girls to have easy access.
“It is somebody’s life and it affects their daily life. Make it cheap, make it accessible. Some of these girls out of immaturity and a need that they don’t know how to deal with, are having transactional sex because a man is providing a simple sanitary towel for them,” she said.
On June 22, hundreds of Ghanaians surrounded Parliament and demanded that the tax on sanitary pads be removed right away.
According to the group, the price of sanitary pads has increased due to the 12.5 percent VAT and the 20 percent import tax, making it hard for women, who make up 51% of Ghana’s population, to afford them.
Additionally, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has told Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta not to include a tax on sanitary napkins in the budget for 2024.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has also cautioned the Akufo-Addo administration against trying to eliminate levies on imported sanitary pads.
The AGI said that lifting the tariffs on sanitary napkins would be bad for the economy.
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