From Publishing Perspectives:
The gap between print books and e-books has widened recently, since Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced an increase in the VAT that affects e-books on July 11, among other unpopular austerity measures. Print books, on the other hand, continue to enjoy preferential status as ‘cultural goods,’ maintaining a VAT of 4%. In what seems more like a privilege to a segment of the industry than to culture itself, theater, music and movies, together with e-books, will all be taxed at a rate of 21%, which will either cut profits or raise prices in an already depressed consumer market.
Antonio María Ávila, executive director of the FGEE (Federation of Spanish Publishers Guilds), was swift to state that the government had been ‘kind’ to the book industry. He’s also convinced that the e-book VAT rate is a dispute to be solved by Europe as a whole, not a Spanish problem in particular. ‘Our battle is to get Brussels to consider e-books as books, because now they are judged to be a service,’ he said, in a statement to the press. ‘It’s a very current matter that leads us down other paths,’ he added, to underscore that as far as the Spanish authorities are concerned, the industry is satisfied — that is, a good deal for print books is enough.”
More details in the article.
(Via Publishing Perspectives.)
As you probably know, paper books are free of VAT in the UK, but ebooks attract the standard rate of 20%. I wouldn’t mind so much if the government didn’t just pour the money down the drain 🙂