Not all reforms are difficult. In our country, there are still some "easy" issues, policy interventions that do not inconvenience anyone, with little disagreement, and have not been implemented simply because no one has done so yet. Ertflix was one such example. Gov.gr. The reduction of the age limit for compulsory education to 4 years old. There were others as well. Today I will talk about another such example, a small, cheap, and simple intervention that has been implemented in many other countries, does not require much, and does not bother anyone: the reduction of VAT on period products from the current 24% to at least 13%. This has not yet been done.

First of all, for half of our readers who may not know, "period products" are tampons, sanitary pads, menstrual cups, and period underwear. These are essential products for almost all women in the world for a period of their lives that lasts about 35-40 years. Things that, of course, the other half of the article's readers know very well. But because it is a topic that was taboo for a long time, many men do not even remember it exists, and some struggle to talk about it. Consider that even today, there are online stores that categorize such products under "sensitive area products," as if referring to occupied Cyprus or Gaza. As a result of this peculiarity, these products are partly not recognized as essential by the Greek state.

Since the cost of period products disproportionately burdens citizens—only women pay for it—the European Union has allowed member states to reduce VAT on these products as much as they want since 2020. Many countries have done just that. Italy, Slovakia, Spain, and Austria reduced it from the highest rate to 10%. Slovenia, Estonia, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, France, Poland, Malta, and Luxembourg lowered it to single-digit percentages—the lowest tier they have. Cyprus has had it at 5% since 2007. Ireland reduced it to “zero.” And Greece? Greece did nothing. Period products in Greece still have 24% VAT, the highest possible. This is strange. It does not make sense and has consequences.

It doesn't make sense because some other items are taxed at reduced rates in Greece. Medicines, books, electricity, concert tickets, and natural gas have 6% VAT. Other products the legislator recognizes as "essential" like baby diapers, child car seats, motorcycle helmets, milk, bread, and vegetables, are at 13%. Even coffee is at 13%. How can the legislator consider coffee an essential item and recognize a reduced VAT for it, but not for period products? Earlier I mentioned that the state "partly" does not recognize them as essential—this is because the current government, recognizing the issue, runs a program offering free period products in 200 schools in poor neighborhoods of Athens and Thessaloniki, similar to other programs in other countries (but smaller in scale—covering less than 10% of Greek middle and high schools). If it is an essential item for some students, why not for all women?

The idea that the tax on period products should be reduced is not new.

For several months, Women on Top and the Deon Policy Institute, two non-profit organizations, have been running an awareness campaign, sending letters to the relevant ministers, embassies of European countries that have passed similar measures, media outlets, and private companies that sell these products. This newspaper has also highlighted the issue. In their campaign, the two organizations address the basic questions that arise whenever we discuss a policy change: who benefits and by how much, and what is the fiscal or other cost.

The benefit is obvious. It is an economic burden that affects half the population of the country. Currently, about 2.2 million women in Greece use period products every month. It is not a big burden. Not all struggle to buy them. Their cost is generally low (again, this article mainly addresses male readers), and a reduction of 40 cents per pack of sanitary pads would not change the lives of most Greek women. But it would matter for the poorest families. According to a 2018 survey of mothers in Greece, 20% said they had financial difficulties buying period products, while 18% said they had once not bought other essential products to buy sanitary pads. If VAT were reduced from 24% to 13%, a family would save a few hundred euros over the lives of their women. For many families, this is a significant difference.

The fiscal cost of such a change, moreover, would be small—the organizations behind the campaign estimate it at 12.3 million euros annually, which is, say, one-third of the annual cost of police transfers in Greece. It is less than half the annual cost of the YouthPass, the 150-euro annual allowance given to young people to attend concerts and other cultural events. Consider this: the reduced VAT on taxis was recently made permanent. This reduction from 24% to 13% will cost the state 45 million euros a year. A reduction of VAT on period products for all women would have a much, much smaller cost.

Another argument, of course, is that a VAT reduction does not always lead to a price reduction on the shelf—often private companies absorb such reductions to take them as profit. Here, of course, comes the role of regulatory mechanisms, market function, and, when these do not work well, civil society. Organizations like those promoting the VAT reduction campaign on period products should then monitor whether this reduction, when implemented, translates to supermarket shelves. To do the right thing if it does not.

So here we have a simple policy decision, which has a very small fiscal cost, significant benefit for a vulnerable part of the population, negligible political cost, and a great opportunity for positive publicity for the government and the political figures who will finally pass it. This is the takeaway from today's article, a prompt: pass it.

The political leadership of the relevant ministry (minister, deputy, and undersecretaries) are four men. I will put their names here so that this article appears in their press clippings: Kostis Hatzidakis, Nikos Papathanasis, Thanos Petralias, Christos Dimas. They can seize the opportunity, take the initiative, and pick another low-hanging fruit in the ocean of political stakes of our time. And if they have questions on the subject, they can refer to their subordinates in the ministry. Of the eight special and general secretaries of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, four are women.