[Ramrod]

‘Victory’ On The Tampon Tax? Don’t Be So Sure…

one of our Members of the European Parliament Louise Bours put in a written question to the European Commission in June of last year.

She simply asked whether it was legally possible to remove VAT on tampons.

In a long, rambling answer there was a key sentence: “introducing zero VAT rates for sanitary items would not be in line with the VAT directive”. I think I had better send Mr Cameron a copy of this letter.

So what will happen next week is that the European Commission will introduce amending legislation to remove VAT on tampons. Whether this is just an amendment or a wholesale reworking of the massively complex VAT directive remains to be seen. Time pressures would suggest the former. The legislation then needs to go through the committee stage of the European Parliament and then be subjected to a full vote of the plenary in session.

Even if all of this goes swimmingly and it comes back to the European Council for approval there is a problem. Indeed it is the same problem that Dave’s emergency break and the promise of our exclusion from political union will face. It is called the European Court of Justice.

If the legal advice of the European Commission in correspondence with Louise Bours is correct then the removal of the tampon tax may well be struck down and this great triumph for British democracy turned to dust.