In Germany, You Can Buy Your Tampons In A Book (And Pay Less Tampon Tax Too)

Germany, like many other places, has some form of a “tampon tax,” placing the feminine hygiene product in a taxable category and deemed a non-essential, unlike food or water. In the European nation, tampons are taxed at 19%, while books are taxed at 7%. One company decided to use this tax difference to offer their organic sanitary products at a lower price through a bit of subversive packaging while raising awareness of the “tampon tax.”

Called the Tampon Book, it is a volume of stories about menstruation from biblical times to the present era and includes illustrations from artists Alica Lauger and Ana Curbelo. It differs from most books in that it also takes advantage of the lower tax rate to sell organic tampons.