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Thursday, Mar. 31, 2022

Is a German company packaging tampons as books to secure a lower tax rate?

Sarah Thompson, Lead Stories

no

The Tampon Book was a 2019 publicity stunt meant to raise awareness about Germany's unequal taxation of tampons rather than dodge taxes. Organizers sold tampons packaged as a book to draw attention to the fact that Germany taxed tampons at 19% as a "luxury" good while books were taxed at 7%.

Later that year, Germany announced that tampons would be taxed at the regular rate of 7%, effective January 1, 2020.

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