Taxation & Women Hygiene |
In 2025, Pakistan finds itself in the midst of a debate that should have been settled decades ago: should the state tax products that are indispensable to women’s personal hygiene, health, and dignity? The answer, to any thoughtful observer, is an emphatic no. And yet, in communities across the country, from posh urban markets to the peripheries of rural Sindh and Balochistan, women and girls pay a “period tax” that amounts to a systemic penalty on half the population.
At the heart of this debate is a constitutional petition before the Lahore High Court, brought by 25-year old lawyer Mahnoor Omer, challenging the taxation of menstrual hygiene products such as sanitary pads. Under Sales Tax Act of 1990, locally manufactured pads attract an 18 % sales tax, while imported pads and even key raw materials face a 25 % customs duty when local levies are added, the total tax burden approaches 40 % of the retail price.
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What the revenue code treats as another line in the tax schedule, women experience as an insurmountable barrier to basic health and dignity. In a country where the average monthly income hovers around $295, a pack of 10 sanitary pads costing roughly Rs 600-700 becomes a luxury rather than a necessity. It is almost the price of a meal for a family of four.
This is not merely a technical dispute over tax law. It is a moral indictment of a policy framework that continues to treat menstrual hygiene as a luxury good which per se is an unavoidable biological reality of every woman’s life. When products that enable women to manage their bodies with safety and dignity are priced beyond reach, we are........