Why tax a woman's period? Bagbin urges 'menstruation tax' rethink

Speaker Alban Bagbin has said it is unthinkable to tax women for having their period.

During a parliamentary session, Mr Bagbin expressed his disappointment with the taxes on sanitary towels matter when the Member of Parliament for Sefwi Akontombra, Alex Tetteh Djornobuah, sought to justify them.

Mr Bagbin said: "On the issue of sanitary pads, the government should rethink it because the taxes are not only on imported ones, even the locally produced ones are taxed".

He revealed that the producers met him two days ago about the issue and said "even the raw materials are taxed".

"They were complaining about production; to the extent that some of them folded up", Mr Bagbin said.

"This is something that I take seriously. Don’t let us miss the point. I will not tax a woman -- my mother -- for producing me. I don’t support that at all. So, the state must take this matter seriously", he urged.

"There are countries where it is for free. There are countries where a lot of taxes have been removed. That is an issue I’m very passionate about. To all governments that will come, we can do without it. How much do we make from this taxation? We like taxing the poor. We are not taxing the rich", Mr Bagbin added.

The issue of taxing sanitary pads has become a subject of passionate debate in Ghana, with the Speaker advocating for its removal to support women's access to these necessary products.