Hi all Sylar here, I want the 20% TAX on e-books gone! Could you all please consider signing my e-book related petition? It started out as a project for the college but if it gets enough signatures who knows where it could go! Please note any international users of the forum can still sign by selecting their home country.

https://www.change.o...-20-reading-tax

Happy to discuss.

I assume you are talking about the VAT applies to digital books, and hence we pay extra 20% compared with "real" books which under the UK are VAT exempt.

Actually, in Denmark, VAT (MOMS) is applied on real books as well as digital book at a higher rate of 25%.

Rates vary quite a bit in different countries on VAT rates on books as shown in following

http://www.vatlive.com/vat-rates/eur.../eu-vat-rates/

What is interesting is that some member states also have reduced VAT rates on e-books.

So, if an individual member state can reduce the VAT on e-books, then presumably so can the UK. So is the EU really the culprit as you imply, or is it the UK?

I suspect the UK has not sought an exemption, as when e-books started, the volume of sales was too small to be worth making an issue over.

Of course sales have greatly expanded, but I still doubt the UK will do anything as the extra VAT is a "nice little earner", and in reality, even with VAT, e-books are cheaper than "real books" (for same book) as far as I can tell.

The problem with this type of petition, it is not easy to put a strong case for change - take fuel taxes for example, it can make the difference between a firm surviving or not, and hence petitions have a strong meaning. I seriously doubt e-book sales are affected enough by VAT to put budding writers out of work

To simply petition based on the argument "I want to pay less" can be applied to anything with VAT e.g. why do we pay 20% on adult shoes etc.

Regrettably, I think your campaign is doomed to failure, as I doubt you can provide an emotive enough justification to make the UK government agree to make changes. Of course, I could be wrong - good luck anyway.

I agree with oilman and don't have much to add.

I don't see why you're blaming the EU. The UK government could apply a lower rate of sales tax.

The difficulty is perhaps in classifying books. A medical textbook is hardly a luxury. But is a Stephen King novel?

You two haven't done your homework. Yes, some countries do have separate rates for E Books and Printed books but this is illegal under EU law. The disgusting EU states that EBooks should be charged at the hugest rate possible. France recently lost in court and has to have E books at the highest VAT rate. . The EU shouldn't really have any say in this anyway, but that's a whole other matter. But don't have a go at the OP. The UK government is impotent on this due to the Brussels dictatorship.

So how do other countries get away with it? I was not having a go at OP just pointing the chances of success are low.

If you are right, then chances are even lower (EU being more intransigent than UK).

Ultimately to win petitions requires a strong emotional element for success, and I do not see the petition is emotive enough like the fuel tax protests where lorry drivers blockaded refineries and distribution depots a few years ago, bringing country close to a standstill.

Of course, it is just my own opinion that the OP's petition is highly unlikely to succeed.

We (allegedly) live in a democracy, and a petition is a legitimate form of protest, and I do not disagree with the protest, but perhaps there are more deserving situations where use of the OP's time and energy would be more beneficial with a much greater chance of success?

This is the link to the petition if anyone wants it. The one in the OP doesn't work

https://www.change.org/p/abolish-the...rithm=promoted