Why, in a country like New Zealand, are we paying GST on sunblock!? We, and RAAIE, get outraged.
Being sun smart is something that’s so ingrained in the New Zealand psyche, I bet the mere mention of ‘sun smart’ has your brain subconsciously churning through ‘slip, slip, slap’… and if you’re a younger millennial, ‘wrap’ (they added the fourth bit sometime in the late 90s, apparently?!).
Your childhoods were dominated by the ever-present threat of ‘no hat, no play’ (closely followed by the terror of having to go home after losing your school bucket hat and having to tell your mum).
Sunblock is a daily part of our lives, one we’ve accepted and embraced as part of getting to living in New Zealand. We have the highest rates of skin cancer in the world – facts.
So when I got an email from RAAIE Skincare founder Katey Mandy, wanting to chat about her latest initiative to persuade the government to remove GST on sunscreen, I replied “sure, of course” – before getting mightily wound up about the fact that I’d just registered that we’ve been paying 15% more than we should on sunblock.
Why, in a country where we spend MILLIONS on treating skin cancers, are we making it more expensive for people to prevent it in the first place?
It’s an outrage that, of course, Katey shares.
“I’m calling on the government to remove the GST from sunscreen, just like they have done in Australia,” she tells Capsule.
“From a human perspective it doesn’t make sense to charge sales tax on a product that is necessary to keep us safe from our environment. A 15% reduction in price would make sunscreen accessible to more people and send a critical message to Kiwis about its importance.
“And the financial argument for this tax on sunscreen is even weaker. By 2025, skin cancer will cost the New Zealand health system around $300 million a year – yet the estimated annual revenue generated by GST from sunscreen sales is just $4.2 million. So the government could actually save money by making sunscreen more affordable.”
It’s absolute peak ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, to be sure – classic NZ – and the fact that it’s insanely expensive – even a 200ml Nivea bottle at Pak n Save, probably enough for one family day at the beach, is $17 – is almost criminal.
Katey’s product, admittedly, is on the other end of the price spectrum – her RAAIE Milk Drops are a luxury product, cost $100 and, frankly, those who can afford it probably aren’t too fussed by a 15% GST charge.
But that’s not the point, she says.“I know that as a boutique, luxury brand, reducing the price of my sun protection product isn’t going to move the dial for the whole nation. Which is why I need your help.
“To show my commitment to this campaign, we are removing the GST from our sunscreen, RAAIE Sun Milk Drops SPF50, by reducing its price 15% on my website. (If any of the hard working folks at IR are reading this, I want to reassure you that I will still be paying the GST on behalf of the customer, until the law is changed!).
“Please sign our petition to remove GST from ALL sunscreen sold in NZ. It literally only takes a moment and if it leads to even one person not getting a malignant melanoma, that will be time well spent.
“Together, we can end NZ’s most cancerous tax and reduce the number of New Zealanders affected by skin cancer.”
