Several Ministers of Sri Lanka said in social media that taxation on sanitary towels has not been increased. Accordingly, the pre-budget import tax on sanitary towels was 30% and there was no CESS tax on them. The government has reduced the custom import duty to 15% and added a new CESS tax of 15%. As a result, the tax amount remains the same.
However, the government's clarification revealed that the tax on menstrual products in Sri Lanka is over 30% as more taxes are effective when they come to the retail market.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's son Minister Namal Rajapaksa said, "I firmly believe that women should have affordable access to sanitary napkins & therefore all taxes should be waived off for this essential commodity until we increase local production."
