EU nations continue to wrestle with disparities in sales tax on print and ebooks, and a general need to raise public revenues. On January 1, France will officially defy EU law and lower the VAT on ebooks to match the tax on printed books. That rate has been 5.5 percent–but is scheduled to rise to 7 percent in the new year, which is causing uproar from France’s network of over 3,000 independent bookstores. (VAT on most goods in 19.6 percent.) France24 In the UK, however, the House of Commons was told that under EU law the country cannot reduce or […]
