For Europe, the ebook is more of a videogame than a book (in electronic format). And consequently the VAT tax, on a continental level, remains much higher for new generation publishing, equating it instead to that of video games: in the case of Italy, 22% against 4%.
In fact, a dozen states of the European Union remain convinced that a paper book and an electronic one are two different objects that require different taxation and therefore part of directive 112/2006 is rejected with which the states of the Union intend to outline a "common system of value added tax" from 2015 January XNUMX, proposing to align the rates as much as possible.
Especially when, as Italy and France tried to maintain until the end, the product is the same: a book. The attempt to gather the unanimous consensus necessary to review the course has failed, so from January 2015 traditional volumes will still be subject to reduced VAT (4%), while e-books will bear the standard rate, which in Italy is 22%.
While waiting to understand what the Government will do, which also through Minister Dario Franceschini had undertaken to resolve the issue, the news is not good for publishing, because prices will rise and a sector already in difficulty will have new demand problems. provoked by a bizarre choice that helps many of the Twenty-Eight to do their own interests rather than those of the citizens.
