An end to VAT on sanitary products is in the SNP manifesto!

[Jackieharris]

Yes!

About time the political parties recognise this and put the policy in writing.

I know it's not world changing or anything but it's a small matter of principle.

Hopefully others will follow suit.

Is that because they are going to unilaterally leave the EU? This has been discussed numerous times, SPs have VAT under EU legislation, they are now taxed at 5% rather than 20%.

They're leaving the EU!?

An SNP/UKIP coalition?

It's been in the UKIP manifesto for ages, but their attitude to EU obligations is clear.

How exactly is SNP planning to enter into negotiations with other EU members, and how's long does she expect it to take?

Or is she planning to have some mechanism whereby the taxpayers pay the VAT, not the consumer? Is that permitted by EU?

As others have said: they can campaign to change the EU stance but they cannot do this alone.

If Manifestos were in any way binding when a party got into power I'd be more impressed.

As it is, they're just statements designed to attract punters....

Geez I was just tying to be positive!

Manifestos are largely symbolic, true.

But isn't the fact that it's there at all a good thing?

Well, promising to do something that it's not in your power to deliver is a useful manifesto message.

It makes you wonder how much else is a similarly empty promise, or is dependent on actions by a third party they do not control.

This proposal is a good thing for those who want to leave the EU. It's a sign that SNP isn't as bothered about a future within the EU as they said during the referendum campaigns. If all of UK left, and did/paid for the admin of leaving, then much easier for iScotland idc.

can I ask on this board, why are Europe in favour of taxing women's sanitary needs? I really don't understand it, but I'd be glad to know which specific counties seem to have sopuch regressive views.

The SNP has a strong pro-EU policy, so if they simultaneously say that Scotland can drop an EU regulation (VAT charged on sanitary products) then I'm afraid it's a sign that the SNP doesn't have much grip on reality. They could say that they'll agitate to give these items a no-tax status, but they need to make promises that won't immediately be seen as hollow.

It's the EU as a whole. The VAT regime is something everyone signs up to with membership.

It rolled out in UK when we joined back in the 1970s, and replaced the then Purchase Tax (which was akin to a luxury tax, leading to the persistent rather inaccurate view that VAT is also a luxury tax. It isn't, it's a tax on general consumption of goods and services).

I really don't know how it was first negotiated (and it probably antedated UK membership, so look to the Inner Six). But it is intended that VAT is not up for renegotiation.

Couldn't it be a commitment for their meps to campaign for a change through the European Parliament?

What's the wording in the manifesto?

They can make whatever promises they like in their document, but if they mean 'we'll campaign to reopen the VAT for renegotiation in EU' then that is what they need to say.

This is not about Scotland but my local Workers Revolutionary Party Candidate has promised to build a million council homes in the area. I'd love to know where he's going to put them (I live in London & there really isn't a lot of brownfield or greenfield space).

I don't understand the hostility that some women on Mumsnet regularly display when the idea of zero-rating VAT on sanitary products is mentioned, often along the lines of:
(a) it's currently set at an allegedly ever-so-generous rate of only 5%
and/or
(b) it's absolutely impossible to get the EU to change VAT ratings.

I think the EU regularly changes what is zero-rated and what isn't, as evidenced by e.g. various notices issued by HMRC. VAT-rating isn't actually set in stone, even though it might seem so. When EU bureaucrats want to change a product's rating, it changes. If a campaign can move sanitary products into the "candidates for zero-rating" category, zero-rating can become a probable outcome.

The first thing such a campaign needs to overcome is the idea that rates are unchangeable. There is no physical law of the universe nor any EU rule that says products can never become zero-rated.

I suppose there is also the "easy" path - just accept what the EU already gives us - but if we take that path, then we probably don't deserve change and will never get it.

"Unfortunately, thinking that EU changes VAT ratings does not make it the case.

That's true, to the extent there's been a hell of a fight to keep the zero rating for children's clothes.

And there are minor changes going on all the time, as exemptions are eroded. I can't think, off hand, of a new exemption or zero rating. What examples are you thinking of?

VAT varies a lot over the EU. As of 01 Jan 2015, in the UK, standard rate was 20% and reduced rate was 5%. France had a standard rate of 20%, two reduced rates of 10% and 5.5%, and a special reduced rate of 2.1% !! Denmark had only a standard rate of 25% with no reduced rates.

VAT on hotel accommodation in UK is standard rated (20%) but in Bulgaria it's reduced rated (9%). VAT is not an EU monolith. It is as flexible as toffee on a very hot day.

(source: ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/rates/vat_rates_en.pdf)

ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/rates/vat_rates_en.pdf

That says there are a lot of rates. That's not the point, is it? It's whether how movement between rates is controlled, isn't it?

I can't work out if rates are permitted to go down to zero, or if the zero rates are historic anomalies (ie those which existed can continue, but nothing else can be added; plus pressure, eg children's clothing shenanigans, to remove all super low rates).