A period is no luxury, so why the tax on tampons?

Department of Politics student, Laura Coryton leads a campaign to end tax on sanitary products.

Today (11 March 2015), Goldsmiths student Laura Coryton presented a petition to Number 11, Downing Street to end the ‘non-essential’ tax on sanitary products. 

The Chancellor’s Office will deliver a response in the coming weeks.

Laura has led a campaign called ‘Stop taxing periods. Period’. This has included a petition calling for an amendment to the classification on sanitary items as ‘non-essential luxury’ items since May 2014 and has secured more than 200,000 signatures.

If successful in the UK, Laura’s goal is to persuade the top 8 EU countries to support the campaign before lobbying the EU to change the tax. 

Laura Coryton, Department of Politics said: 

“If helicopters and crocodile meat are on the list of essential tax exempt products, surely so should sanitary products that are essential to the health and livelihoods of approximately 28 million women in the UK.”  

Speaking about having the courage to lead this global campaign, Laura said: “Goldsmiths has given me the confidence to stand up for what is important to me. It has inspired me to think big and to view this issue for what it is: a global issue disadvantaging millions of people around the world and trivialising the marginalisation of issues traditionally associated with women.”