WARSAW: Poland, France, Germany and Italy demanded the European Commission to change tax rules for ebooks. EU judges earlier ruled that France and Luxembourg could not set rates of value-added tax (VAT) on ebooks that were below their general level on goods and services. Only paper books were on a list of products on which the EU allows governments to choose lower than normal rates of VAT.
According to French government one of the four big powers in EU, they wanted the EU executive to include in a plan to promote the “digital economy” legislation permitting a reduced rate of VAT on ebooks.
Ministers call on the Commission to end discrimination against digital books, in a joint statement,” The essence of a book is the work itself, not the means of accessing it, and the tax applied should be technologically neutral.”
