Not being of the feminine persuasion myself (a relief to all mankind I can assure you), I wasn't aware that there is in force a European (well EU), wide tax on being a woman. It comes from a source that I thought only the socially backward countries of the world still believed was a taboo, menstruation.
All women do it, except maybe in those areas of the world where girls under 14 years of age can be raped by older men under the guise of 'marriage'. But who would have thought that the EU would decide that something women have no choice about, would and should be taxed by the imposition of a 17% VAT levy on sanitary products?
But apparently that has been the case since the 1970's .... although seemingly it didn't have to be imposed at 17%, but could be set at the lowest VAT rate of 5% at EU member states discretion.
When you consider that amongst those products that are currently totally VAT exempt, are Jaffa Cakes, exotic meats, men's razors, pistachios, and children's nappies, its almost beyond bizarre, that a vital woman’s product is taxed at all, let alone at a higher rate.
To their eternal shame, successive UK governments chose to keep it at 17%, until finally the last Labour government saw sense (see they did do something right), and reduced it to the 5% band rate (which is the lowest rate allowed under EU law).
It would take an EU wide agreement to scrap the VAT for sanitary products, and although there have been calls for this to happen, with petitions and campaigns, the UK government doesn't believe that such an agreement is currently possible ...
Or in the exact gobbledygook of the prime ministers spokeswoman "What is being proposed is not something that being looked at we think is achievable." .... where do they hire these idiots from?
All women do it, except maybe in those areas of the world where girls under 14 years of age can be raped by older men under the guise of 'marriage'. But who would have thought that the EU would decide that something women have no choice about, would and should be taxed by the imposition of a 17% VAT levy on sanitary products?
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| Nothing To Be Taxed |
But apparently that has been the case since the 1970's .... although seemingly it didn't have to be imposed at 17%, but could be set at the lowest VAT rate of 5% at EU member states discretion.
When you consider that amongst those products that are currently totally VAT exempt, are Jaffa Cakes, exotic meats, men's razors, pistachios, and children's nappies, its almost beyond bizarre, that a vital woman’s product is taxed at all, let alone at a higher rate.
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| Continental Views Of Women's Needs Could Be Odd |
To their eternal shame, successive UK governments chose to keep it at 17%, until finally the last Labour government saw sense (see they did do something right), and reduced it to the 5% band rate (which is the lowest rate allowed under EU law).
It would take an EU wide agreement to scrap the VAT for sanitary products, and although there have been calls for this to happen, with petitions and campaigns, the UK government doesn't believe that such an agreement is currently possible ...
Or in the exact gobbledygook of the prime ministers spokeswoman "What is being proposed is not something that being looked at we think is achievable." .... where do they hire these idiots from?
As you say, bizarre, almost as bizarre as that french ad. which makes no sense what so ever!?
ReplyDeleteActually it does .... kinda. The key is in the text not the image. 'Je suiss comme un poisson dans l'eau'
DeleteTranslation:'I am like a fish in water'
Meaning: To be in a suitable environment or fitting the circumstances e.g. A good fit to ones circumstances.
Example:
"Nous savons que le plus intime de nos gestes contribue à faire l'histoire (…) que nous appartenons à une époque qui aura plus tard un nom et une figure et dont les grands traits, les dates principales, la signification profonde, se dégageront aisément : nous vivons dans l'histoire comme les poissons dans l'eau, nous avons une conscience aiguë de notre responsabilité historique."
Jean-Paul Sartre - Situations II - 1965
Translation: "We know that most intimate of our actions contribute to the story (...) that we belong to an age that would later have a name and a face and whose main features , key dates, the profound meaning , will emerge easily : we live in history as the fish in the water, we have an acute awareness of our historical responsibility. "
Jean-Paul Sartre - Situations II - 1965
So the Tampax is as comfortable in its surroundings as a fish in water .... or an analogy to that effect. But I guess you'd have to be French to really get it.
Yes, "like a fish in water" is understood, but the image?
DeleteWhen seagulls follow the trawler it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea, - Eric Cantana.
Well its a fish out of water .... or maybe a sardine out of water as Cantona would have said. I am not French (Thank God) so I can't hazard a guess better than that the fish (tampon) is hooked, and can be reeled into the appropriate place again.
DeleteOnly a Frenchman can tell you what goes through their minds.
According to the Chancellors Autumn statement (and the BBC news) ..... The £15m raised each year from charging VAT on tampons will be used to fund women's health and support charities, the chancellor has announced.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34924803
European law meant the tax could not be axed, but he insisted the government was committed to getting the EU rules changed.
I did notice it but didn't make the immediate link to the post and forgot it as the shambles that is the Labour Party. dominates the news.
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