In Strasbourg on Tuesday 15 January, MEPs approved, by 313 votes to 276, with 88 abstentions, the draft own-initiative report by Marisa Matias (GUE/NGL, Portugal) and Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA, Spain) on gender equality and tax policies in the European Union.
In their report, the MEPs call on the Commission to support gender equality in all tax policies and to ensure that no new legislation increases gender disparities in the labour market or widens after-tax income gaps between the sexes.
“Let’s be realistic, to fight inequalities, we need to include a gender perspective in all of our policies and not just settle for declarations of intent, which don’t change anything”, said Marisa Matias, during the debate preceding the vote.
The report also notes that VAT creates tax-related "gender biases” because of women's consumption patterns, which differ from those of men in that they buy more goods and services in order to promote health, education and nutrition.
The MEPs therefore call on Member States to plan for VAT exemptions, lower VAT rates and zero VAT rates for products and services with positive social, health or environmental effects.
The vote in plenary session also upheld the MEPs' request that female hygiene products and care products for children, the elderly or people with disabilities be considered as basic items in all Member States and that a 0% VAT rate be applied to them.
It should be noted that MEPs rejected by 400 votes the provision in the report calling on the Commission to avoid any legislation that could strengthen the "male breadwinner" model.
Overall, the European Commission welcomed the European Parliament's recommendations. “Fair taxation in the single market has been at the core of the European Commission mandate”, said Věra Jourová, the European Commissioner for Justice, recalling that this issue had been particularly addressed as part of the European Semester budget process. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)