The Government has just announced that it will study the reduction of feminine hygiene products, which would go from having a reduced to super-reduced VAT (from 10% tax to 4%), in addition to cultural activities.
However, diapers bear a 21% tax, exactly the same as luxury items, and it is a huge expense for families at a stage where, in addition, they often have to bear the cost of childcare. Great to get off VAT on feminine hygiene products, but when does the diaper?
Compresses and tampons
The elimination of the pink fee is a historical claim, since feminine hygiene products are not a luxury item (even if we pay them as such), but one of the first necessity that we use about three decades of our lives.
Avoiding the discrimination that this burden falls exclusively on women is the argument used by the Minister of Finance María Jesús Montero, when including this reduction in her road map:
"It's about encouraging consumption and not taxing women with an added tax for being women."
Why not diapers?
However, diapers have been left out of this plan. Why? From the Ministry of Finance they answer this:
"In her appearance, Minister María Jesús Montero referred exclusively to the reduction of VAT on feminine hygiene products, which does not include diapers. In any case, this is not an obstacle so that this aspect can be addressed or not in a future, but currently it is not part of the elements and products whose VAT reduction will begin to be studied, taking into account the Community guidelines ".
What families still don't understand is why they don't consider themselves diapers as an essential item, Is there anything else necessary in the first years of the baby's life? Is there any other option? It is estimated that we spend a thousand euros a year on diapers, which would mean a reduction of more than 200 in the annual accounts if the diapers had a super-reduced VAT of 4%.
When?
Since the diapers are going to be left out of these first changes, there is no other than to continue asking that the gavamen be reduced to the minimum to this product.
They have already been asking for (years) groups such as the Spanish Federation of Large Families (FEFN), which in 2016 got more than 182,000 signatures in just 15 days through the # rebajaIVApañalesYA campaign.
It must be remembered that, that same year, the Equality Commission of Congress supported two non-law proposals of the PSOE and Esquerra Republicana (ERC) in which the Government was asked to reduce the feminine intimate hygiene products to the super-reduced VAT rate and diapers, in addition to asking for a discount to 5.5% while Europe was pronouncing on the matter.
The drop in VAT on diapers was and remains urgent. When?
In Babies and more Half of the large families in Spain arrive with difficulties at the end of the month, according to the latest study, The diapers will be super-luxury items from September because of VAT
