Female opposition members of parliament said on Thursday that they had collected signatures for an amendment to the Value Added Tax Act which proposes that VAT on sanitary pads and tampons, the so-called women's tax, be reduced from 25 to 5%.

That would correct the injustice, they said, and necessary hygiene products would be available to all women.

Anka Mrak-Taritas of the Centre and GLAS party group said they would submit the amendment to the VAT Act to the parliament, proposing that VAT on sanitary pads and tampons, the so-called women’s tax, be reduced from 25 to 5%. Signatures of support for the amendment were given by left-wing and liberal parties, as well as by female MPs from the conservative populist Most party and the right-wing DP party.

“Recently, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric, responding to my reply, said that he was ready to consider that Croatia, like some other countries, have a 5% VAT rate on sanitary pads and tampons,” Mrak-Taritas told a press conference in the parliament.

She added that she had also called on female MPs from the ruling HDZ party to support the proposal and show together that Croatia was a normal, reasonable country that recognised discrimination.

She underscored there was no reason, despite this being an opposition proposal, not to take a step forward and place Croatia in the group of European countries with a low rate of ‘women’s tax’.

“The European Union has reached an agreement that all members reduce this tax to 5% by 2022, with most members having a tax between three and nine percent, while at the global level Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Nicaragua, Malaysia, and Lebanon are tax-free, as is Great Britain as of this year. Scotland is the first country in the world to have those hygiene products free of charge, that is, it has vending machines where one can get sanitary pads and tampons,” she said.