Ebooks become lighter, at least in the intentions of the Government. Economic Development Minister Flavio Zanonato said he intends to present, probably next month, a measure that "reduces VAT on digital books produced in Italy". The move would come after the tax relief for paper books contained in the stability law. Zanonato recalled that ebooks sold by large international companies enjoy reduced taxation and for this reason a measure would be needed for those produced in Italy.
A few days ago the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, Massimo Bray, announced a tax deduction of 19% of the expenses incurred during the calendar year for the purchase of books with an Isbn code, i.e. paper , for a maximum amount of 2000 euros, of which 1000 for school and university books and another 1000 for all other publications.
In the general crisis of publishing, the growth of digital represents an exception that leaves hope open: according to the 2013 Report on the state of publishing in Italy by the Aie Study Office (Italian Publishers Association), in Italy reading is of interest only 46% of the population, but in 2012 ebooks reached 3% of those over 14, equal to a total of 1,6 million Italians.
The IEA estimates that the e-book market in 2012 reached a share of between 1,8% and 2%: still modest values in absolute terms, but growing. Overall, the digital market (e-books + databases) showed a positive trend in 2012, although it was unable to compensate for the heavy declines in the "physical" market: excluding hybrid products (paper + CD-ROM/DVD-ROM) it reached in fact a share of 6,4% (with a growth of 3% in 44,3 years).
