Tax on sanitary pads won’t have much impact on government revenue – Tax analyst

Tax analyst and lawyer, Fred Awutey has stated that taxing sanitary pads will not have any significant impact on the government revenue target.

This comes on the heels of the latest legal action initiated by a private legal practitioner, James Kofi Afedo suing the Attorney General, Speaker of Parliament, and the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) over the continuous collection of taxes on sanitary pads.

He argues that the trio had breached portions of Ghana’s constitution regarding the treatment of all persons as equal before the law.

However, speaking on Starr Today with Joshua Kodjo Mensah, lawyer Awutey stated that Sanitary Pads can be classified as items under Value Added Tax that are not to be taxed.

“So if you look at all these in whole you will notice this taxing of sanitary pads or products will not really have any much impact on revenue. This is basically because if you look at the sanitary pads per se you will notice that it is one way or the other a necessity product.

“If you take for instance the Value Added Tax some of the items they have which are exempted are basically items which are basic necessities. Things like food, salt, and these items are basic necessities and most often they are exempted from tax. And I don’t see why sanitary pads could not be classified as a social product or item of necessity,” lawyer Awutey stated.