The pink tax and why period supplements still have one

Britain scrapped the tampon tax. So why are PMS supplements still taxed as a luxury?

The UK abolished the tampon tax in 2021. Pads, tampons and menstrual cups are now VAT-free. The supplements, painkillers and contraception women buy to manage the same biological process are still taxed at 20%.

This is the gap the 2021 reform left open and why the pink tax in the UK is not the settled issue many assume it is.

What is the pink tax and does it still exist in the UK?

The definition. The price premium women pay for equivalent products

The pink tax is the extra women pay for products that are functionally identical to those marketed to men. Razors, deodorants, shampoo, dry cleaning. The list is long and well documented. UK retail surveys keep finding the same pattern, with women's versions priced higher than the men's equivalent and no meaningful difference in the product itself.

Higher pricing versus higher tax

There are two pink taxes in the UK and they get confused all the time. One is commercial. Brands charge more for the pink version. The other is structural. The government applies VAT to products women need and men don't.

The first is a problem of the market. The second is a problem of policy. This article is about the second.

The tampon tax. What it was, how it ended and why 2021 mattered

A brief history of VAT on period products

When the UK introduced VAT in 1973, period products were classified as non-essential luxury items. The rate was cut to 5% in 2000 but the products stayed taxable. For decades, campaigners pointed out the obvious. Tampons and pads are not optional, they have no male equivalent and the people who need them have no choice about whether to buy them.

The campaign that changed it

EU rules blocked the UK from removing the tax unilaterally. Brexit changed that. In March 2021, after more than a decade of campaigning, VAT on period products was abolished.

What the abolition actually covered

The reform was narrow by design. It applied to a defined list of menstrual products including tampons, pads, menstrual cups and period underwear. It did not cover the other products women buy to manage their cycles or the symptoms that come with them.

Which raises the obvious question. If period products are VAT-free because they are essential, what about everything else?

The gap the tampon tax abolition left open

What VAT still applies to

Supplements formulated for hormonal balance and premenstrual symptoms are still taxed at 20%. So is over-the-counter pain relief used for period pain. So are most forms of non-prescription contraception. None of these were covered by the 2021 reform.

The consistency problem

The principle established in 2021 was clear. Products required to manage a biological process women have no choice about should not be taxed as discretionary purchases. Applied consistently, that principle has implications well beyond the list the reform actually covered. The line drawn in 2021 reflects a particular interpretation, not a definitive answer to what counts as essential.

PMS supplements and the specific case for change

What PMS costs women

PMS is not a marginal issue. In a survey of DR.VEGAN^® customers, 51% said it disrupted their daily life, 41% had taken a day off work because of it and 68% said it had affected their relationships. Beyond the personal cost, there is a measurable hit to workplace productivity that rarely makes it into conversations about employee health.

The education gap that compounds it

79% of women in the same survey said they had never been taught about PMS at school. That shapes how seriously women take their own symptoms and how willing they are to seek support. When something is neither taught nor publicly discussed, the default is to manage it privately. That makes the policy classification of products designed to help feel even more arbitrary.

A cycle-specific product, taxed as discretionary

In VAT terms, a supplement formulated specifically to address PMS is treated identically to any other food supplement. The classification does not account for what the product is for or who it is for. It treats a product designed to support women through a recurring biological process as functionally equivalent to a multivitamin bought as a wellness preference.

What would it take to change the VAT on supplements?

Since Brexit, the UK has had the power to set its own VAT rates without EU approval, which enabled the 2021 tampon tax reform. The same mechanism could theoretically apply to other categories of products linked to women’s reproductive health, though any change would still require Treasury approval, cross-party support and clear definitions around eligibility. The tampon tax campaign itself took more than a decade. While similar reforms would likely face long timelines, the UK’s renewed 2026 Women’s Health Strategy suggests growing political recognition that women’s reproductive health has been historically under-prioritised, making these conversations increasingly part of mainstream health policy.

What DR.VEGAN^® is doing about it

DR.VEGAN^® has decided to permanently absorb the cost of VAT on PMS Hero^®, our premenstrual support supplement. This means the formula is sold on the DR.VEGAN^® website at its VAT-free price of £18.99, with the brand carrying the tax cost rather than passing it to the customer. The decision is intended as a statement that premenstrual support should not be classified as a luxury and it stands until the policy itself changes. Products sold through third-party retailers remain subject to standard VAT pricing.

PMS survey: Based on a UK survey conducted by DR.VEGAN^® of 32 customers, nationally representative, during November 2022. All research findings reflect our own research efforts and have not been influenced or verified by any external organisations or third-party entities.