Feminine hygiene provincial tax also going

The announcement last week by Ottawa that it's dropping the federal sales tax on feminine hygiene products means there will no longer be a provincial tax either.

I'm really sorry the province couldn't look at it themselves.- Sandy Kowalik

The P.E.I. Department of Finance says because the feds won't be collecting their portion of the HST, the province can no longer charge its nine per cent.

Some provinces. including Nova Scotia and Ontario are already rebating the provincial portion of the tax on the products, but on P.E.I. women are still charged the full 14 per cent.

Sandy Kowalik, who was working for Women's Network PEI in the leadup to the HST being introduced on P.E.I., said she took every opportunity to advocate for a gender analysis of the tax, believing it was unfair to Island women.

"I really couldn't understand the rationale behind it," she said. "For example, they were making adult diapers tax-free, and yet they still (maintained) the tax on feminine hygiene products? You just can't add a tax onto one group of people. It's very discriminatory. Women have to pay this all the time and men do not."

She says she's pleased the province is dropping the tax, even if it was forced to do so.

"I'm really sorry the province couldn't look at it themselves and they were kind of forced into it, but I'm really happy for all the women who actually need these products, that they're not going to have to pay the tax on it."

July 1 has been set as the day when cash registers across the country will no longer ring in the HST on feminine hygiene products.

A spokesperson for the P.E.I. Department of Finance said government doesn't know how much it will lose in tax revenue because of the change. The federal government has estimated its loss at $36 million.