It will be cheaper to make love in Britain from Saturday thanks to a reduction in sales tax on condoms announced by the Treasury on Friday.
Value-added tax (VAT) on condoms and other non-prescription contraceptive products will be 5%, rather than the standard 17,5%, “leading to immediate reductions in the prices paid by consumers”, it said in a statement.
“Safe sex has never been cheaper,” said Public Health Minister Caroline Flint, who cautioned that couples still bear responsibility for halting the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Reduced VAT for condoms was promised in Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown’s budget three months ago. Birth-control pills and other prescription contraceptives are sold without any sales tax. — AFP