{"id":1231,"date":"2020-12-10T09:08:52","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T09:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/?p=1231"},"modified":"2022-06-25T09:40:03","modified_gmt":"2022-06-25T09:40:03","slug":"misleading-statements-on-15-extra-tax-on-womens-sanitary-napkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/misleading-statements-on-15-extra-tax-on-womens-sanitary-napkins\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Additional 15% tax introduced on women\u2019s sanitary napkins?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Women make up more than 50%<\/a> of Sri Lanka’s population. Several women’s organizations have repeatedly said<\/a> that women endure various issues due to inadequate hygiene during menstruation. This is due to both financial difficulties and misunderstandings related to menstruation. In fact, this issue became a hot topic during the last presidential election too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, a number of posts have been circulating on social media and mainstream media during last week of November stating that an additional 15% tax on sanitary napkins was introduced in the 2021 budget proposal. Our investigation revealed that these misleading posts were prompted by the new budget proposal to change the existing 30% import tax to 15% import tax and 15% CESS respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTS:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Facebook account named Amanda Abeysooriya posted: “15% tax on sanitary napkins # Budget2021”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many other shared similar posts as well, as seen below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Facebook<\/a><\/td>Archived Link<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Facebook<\/a><\/td>Archived Link<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Facebook<\/a><\/td>Archived Link<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fact Check <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tax composition Women’s Sanitary Napkins Prior to the 2021 Budget Proposals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a report submitted by EconomyNext <\/a>in March 2018, the following taxes were levied on women’s sanitary napkins imported under HS code 96190010 before September 2018: General Duty or Import Tax (30%) + VAT (15%) + PAL (7.5%) + NBT (2%) and CESS (30% or Rs.300 \/ kg). However, government back then had removed the 30% (CESS) tax from sanitary napkins in September 2018 after considering the concerns raised by many concerned parties. Mangala Samaraweera, who was Minister of Finance back then also, pointed this out on one of his tweets<\/a> recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a May 2020 article, Ada Derana Biz explained how taxes on sanitary napkins have changed over the past few years. Advocata Institute, which had initially proposed the removal of the 30% CESS tax back in 2018, had made below recommendations to further reduce the applicable taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AdaDerana Biz<\/a> | Archived<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current Context after 2021 budget proposals:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, we looked at the new budget proposal suggestion on the tax component of women\u2019s sanitary napkins by taking into consideration the views from number of parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Minister – Ajith Nivard Cabraal:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We consulted the media secretary of State Minister of Money & Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who stated that the claims on new budget proposal suggesting a new 15% tax on women\u2019s sanitary napkins, is totally misleading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also explained that under the government’s tax reforms on sanitary napkins, the current import tax of 30% would be reduced to 15%, but to protect local sanitary napkin manufacturers, the reduced 15% import tax has been imposed as a 15% CESS tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also noted that, in reply to the questions raised in the parliament about the new tax component affecting women\u2019s sanitary napkins, State Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal stated that the 2021 Budget Proposal has not imposed a new tax of 15% on women’s sanitary napkins, as seen here in this Hiru News <\/a>report. Cabraal also released a Tweet<\/a> in this regard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No change in the total #duty<\/a> & #tax<\/a> applied on importation of #sanitary<\/a> towels by our administration. As usual, a sinking opposition is clutching at straws! #lka<\/a> #sanitarytowels<\/a> #notax<\/a> #fakeinfo<\/a> #Budget2021<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/nW6nMjV2D7<\/a><\/p>— Ajith Nivard Cabraal (@an_cabraal) November 24, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>