Bagbin slams Akufo-Addo for not removing taxes on sanitary pads
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has criticized the government for not removing taxes on sanitary pads during the mid-year budget review.
Earlier, the Speaker had urged the government to utilize the budget review to eliminate taxes on sanitary pads, but unfortunately, this proposal was not included in the Finance Minister’s presentation on Monday.
During a parliamentary debate, the Member of Parliament for Sefwi Akontombra, Alex Tetteh Djornobuah, attempted to defend the imposition of the taxes, to which the Speaker responded.
Alban Bagbin called on the current and future governments to reconsider the taxation of sanitary pads. He emphasized that the taxes are not only imposed on imported pads but also on locally produced ones, which affects businesses, including raw material providers.
Expressing his strong stance on the matter, the Speaker stated that he does not support taxing women for essential products like sanitary pads. He highlighted that some businesses have faced challenges and even closed down due to the heavy tax burden on sanitary pad production.
Bagbin passionately appealed to the government to take this issue seriously, pointing out that there are countries where sanitary pads are provided free of charge, and some have removed taxes on these products.
He further criticized the practice of taxing the poor while sparing the wealthy. Many stakeholders have joined in calling for the government to abolish the taxes on sanitary pads.
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