Enough stunts, just fix the tampon tax injustice

LABOR’S tampon tax announcement was a cynical stunt, but that doesn’t change the fact the tax is manifestly unfair and should be junked, writes Justin Smith.

ON the weekend, we all got a real insight into the way politicians and bureaucrats view taxation.

And it’s as we suspected — their constant plan is to get as much as they can.

And this insight didn’t even come from the government, it was from the opposition.

Labor’s shadow treasurer Chris Bowen, flanked by three female members of the front bench, announced that he wanted to ditch the GST on tampons if they win the next election.

The government currently makes a bit over $30-million a year from the GST on tampons, and then passes it on to the states. Bowen knew he couldn’t just flick the tax, so he said he would introduce new taxes on “natural therapies” instead.

This is a perfect example of how governments sees our money.

They think that if the $30-million is not in a government taxation vault, then it just doesn’t exist. If it’s just sitting in the pockets of women and their families, then it’s of no real use. They don’t see that it as a real part of the economy.

It’s as though they think the money will float off to Russia, or get thrown on to a bonfire if it’s not in their possession.

What they don’t concede is that any money saved on tampon GST is going to be spent on living, and then get folded back into Australia. It’s not wasted money, just because it’s not tax.

The battle against the tampon tax has been a long one. Georgia Mantle and Ella Bickley from the Woman's Collective at University of Sydney protest outside Parliament House in 2015. (Pic: Kym Smith)

Politicians and treasury bureaucrats have always had an incredibly arrogant view towards taxation. And it you tried to explain it to them, you be met with blank expressions and open palms, waiting for more money.

There’s a great line from Yes, Minister, where Sir Humphrey explains that taxation is not about taking what you need, it’s about the treasury grabbing as much as they can get away with.

And when you listen to people like Chris Bowen, it seems less like comedy and more like an embedded reality.

But it’s not just a Labor problem. The GST on tampons and sanitary pads should never have existed. And since the beginning, when it was introduced by the Howard government, both sides of politics have been happy to leave it there — including a Labor government that was lead by a personal user of the products.

The point has been made many times that there is no GST on condoms, sexual lubricant and Viagra.

Yes, it makes the tax insulting that erection tablets are a necessity but tampons are not.

But let me go further. Bottled water is free of GST. In Melbourne, we have some of the greatest tap water in the universe. If you want to waste your money on getting something from a plastic bottle when it’s freely available at the kitchen sink, you deserve to pay a GST on it.

Bottled water in Melbourne is a luxury item.

And spices are not subject to a GST. You don’t need spices to eat. Food might be bland and lack a bit of zing, but you can live without it. Doesn’t that make spice a luxury item?

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen’s announcement about the tampon tax was little more than a stunt with no likelihood of coming to fruition. (Pic: Daniel Munoz/AAP)

I don’t want a tax on water and turmeric, but if we’re going to continue to cop a tax on something that is a medical necessity, then let’s be consistent.

Sadly, the Labor Party pulled a stunt on the weekend. It was total a con job. They did not promise to drop the tax, they merely said they would take the idea to the states if they won the election.

And we know what are the states going to say? “Get stuffed and no thanks”. The only people who love tax more than the federal governments, are the state governments. And Chris Bowen knows it. If he wins the next election he will be able to let the plan slide away, and then blame the states for not agreeing.

We are all smart enough to know that we need taxes. It’s the price of civilisation. And no one argues against building roads and schools and a good defence force. But we don’t need the governments to insult us while we pay.

People like Bowen, and ignorant treasurers like Joe “age of entitlement” Hockey, have always forgotten that we pay a gigantic amount in income tax and GST.

Losing half your pay in tax every fortnight hardly makes you freeloader.

The $30-million that would be lost in tampon GST could easily be made up by government cost cutting, taxing overseas companies properly or decreasing parliamentary entitlements. Or the money could simply be left with the women and their families to flow it back into the economy.

As a man writing about tampons, I know I’ve wandered into unsteady territory. I feel like saying to my keyboard “we’re not in Kansas anymore”, but the unfairness of it is outrageous. Let’s be honest with each other, if a man needed a specific and sanitised medical product for an involuntary monthly discharge, there would never have been a GST on it.

It’s time for a federal government to dump it, and the states to agree.

Justin Smith is a 3AW presenter and Herald Sun columnist.

@justinsmith3AW