The Thai government has passed a new regulation which categorises tampons as a cosmetic product, causing the widespread belief that they will now be subject to 30% tax.
The backlash has been immediate and over 550,000 tweets were made bearing the Thai hashtag #TamponsWithoutTax, which is now among the top Twitter trends in Thailand, as the hashtag continues to gaining traction.
“Why do women have to pay?” tweeted @hippoyayee, while the account @Jackhangu said “I am a man but I agreed with no taxes on sanitary napkins. I agree with free sanitary napkins for all women.”
The regulation, signed by Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul on June 29th and published in the Royal Gazette recently, bizarrely only involves tampons, as a ‘product designed to absorb blood and secretions by insertion into the vagina,’ and does not include sanitary pads, for which no insertion is required.
It is a move that the Thai government has long denied it would make and even dismissed any mention of it as FAKE NEWS.
Further legislation has deemed so-called ‘fake news’ as a crime punishable by prison although, as we can see below, there was nothing fake about it after all.
Bangkok Post [Thailand] – 18 December 2019
‘Tampon tax’ is fake news, insists govt
The government’s campaign against “fake news” took a bizarre turn yesterday when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha spoke out to try and scotch a rumour that a 40% tax would be imposed on tampons.
The rumour spread after Puea Chat spokeswoman Ketpreeya Kaewsaenmuang announced that, unlike sanitary pads, tampons were regarded as a cosmetic product rather than a hygienic necessity.
As such, they might be taxed as “luxury goods”, she added. The tax ceiling for luxuries is 40%.
In recent years most countries around the world have been removing tax on sanitary products after calls from women’s activist groups to end what they regarded as discrimination.
