Waitrose follows Tesco in removing the VAT on tampons – making sanitary products 5% cheaper for women
Almost 100 products will become cheaper
WAITROSE is to follow Tesco and scrap the VAT on women's sanitary products - making them 5 per cent cheaper for Brits.
Almost 100 products will become cheaper when the supermarket's discount comes into effect later this week.
The Government has to charge the tax on all sanitary goods, but now both supermarkets have said they will cover the cost for consumers.
It will cover branded products like Always and Lilets, as well as own brand labels, both in-store and online.
Last month Tesco became the first retailer to axe the charge - after months of delays from the EU on taking steps towards getting rid of the tax.
Ministers announced they would get rid of it as soon as possible, but the EU has dragged its feet and no proposals have yet been brought forward to allow individual countries to set their rates to zero.
The supermarkets say they are acting early to save customers money.
Michael Andrews, Director of Buying - Ambient and General Merchandise at Waitrose, said today: "By covering the VAT cost and reducing the price by five per cent, we are confident it will make a difference to our customers."
In 2015, the then-chancellor George Osborne announced that the extra cash would be earmarked for women’s charities – including refuges for domestic abuse refuges.
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And last year David Cameron announced that the EU would bring forward proposals so that countries can cut the VAT rates on sanitary products down to zero – effectively confirming the tax will go.
He said that proposal would come “in the next few days” – but they still have yet to bring it forward.
At the moment the amendment is due by the end of the year, but won’t come into action until 2018.
In a statement last month the EU Commission said: “As announced in the action plan on VAT, the Commission intends to adopt a legislative proposal by the end of 2017 that would grant Member States more flexibility in setting VAT rates.
“If adopted by the Council, the new rules could result in greater freedom on the number of reduced rates and their level.
“One of the objectives of this proposal, the details of which will be disclosed in due time, will be to restore equality of treatment in the Single Market for those Member States who want to apply reduced rates.”