Denmark To Abolish VAT On Books To Get More People Reading (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0178815196
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/08/22/0031247/denmark-to-abolish-vat-on-books-to-get-more-people-reading
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/20/denmark-to-abolish-vat-on-books-in-effort-to-get-more-people-reading
> Denmark is to [1]stop charging VAT on books in an attempt to get more people reading. At 25%, the country's tax rate on books is the highest in the world, a policy the government believes is contributing to a growing "reading crisis." The culture minister, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, announced on Wednesday that the government would propose in its budget bill that the tax on books be removed. The move is expected to cost 330 million kroner ($51 million) a year.
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> "This is something that I, as minister of culture, have worked for, because I believe that we must put everything at stake if we are to end the reading crisis that has unfortunately been spreading in recent years," Engel-Schmidt told the Ritzau news agency . "I am incredibly proud. It is not every day that one succeeds in convincing colleagues that such massive money should be spent on investing in the consumption and culture of the Danes." [...]
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> "It is also about getting literature out there," said Engel-Schmidt. "That is why we have already allocated money for strengthened cooperation between the country's public libraries and schools, so that more children can be introduced to good literature." [...] If prices do not fall as a result of the measure, Engel-Schmidt said he would reconsider whether it was the right course of action. "I will of course monitor how prices develop. If it turns out that abolishing VAT only means that publishers' profits grow and prices do not fall, then we must consider whether it was the right thing to do," he said.
Further reading: [2]Denmark Ending Letter Deliveries Is a Sign of the Digital Times
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/20/denmark-to-abolish-vat-on-books-in-effort-to-get-more-people-reading
[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/08/21/1928230/denmark-ending-letter-deliveries-is-a-sign-of-the-digital-times
25% tax (Score:2)
I couldn't imagine that. I understand they have all kinds of nice stuff in Denmark though.
Re: (Score:3)
You probably don't have to imagine 25% tax; that's right around the "government revenue (% of GDP)" value for the US; though it does seem kind of wild to see something as regressive as what's basically a sales tax cranked that high unless the product in question is specifically being discouraged; which is clearly not the intent here or we wouldn't be commenting on this article.
Re:25% tax (Score:4, Informative)
Well, their health care (covered by tax money) costs about 1/3 of what it costs in the USA (covered by insurance money), but still provides better results. It is much more cost efficient to let government handle things like health and education.
Re: (Score:3)
As I understand it a VAT is a consumption tax but it is not a salex tax in that a $20 book gets a 25% tax on it at the time of sale. It's more like "I took $5 worth of paper and by turning it into a book I have added $10 of value to it and that $10 get's taxed at 25%"
I could be off though but I'm pretty sure that's how a VAT would apply.
Re: (Score:2)
> I could be off though but I'm pretty sure that's how a VAT would apply.
[1]Value-added_tax#Comparison_with_sales_tax [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax#Comparison_with_sales_tax
Huh? (Score:2)
> The move is expected to cost 330 million kroner ($51 million) a year.
Not really. It's not costing the government anything.
It's potentially saving the people 330 million kroner a year though.
VAT Is Not Going To Work (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not VAT that's stopping people from reading.
They need to ban social media.
Re:VAT Is Not Going To Work (Score:4, Informative)
Pretty much this. Although getting a 25% discount on university textbooks is welcome.
Re: (Score:2)
> It's not VAT that's stopping people from reading.
> They need to ban social media.
Yes, that would probably help. But so would banning Video Games, and Movies, TV, and the internet entirely. People would read more if that was the only form of entertainment. But I don't think that's the way to do it, even if it would work.
I think it has to do with what people value, which is a cultural paradigm more than anything. For as long as I have been around; I have never thought of reading as being "popular". You most likely didn't grow up seeing the "cool kids" curled up with a book over recess. Yo
Differences between the US and Europe (Score:3)
There are some interesting differences in VAT between Europe and the US.
Price tags on products in Europe include VAT, while in the US VAT is not included and VAT rates vary between states.
And in the US VAT, is only charged at the final stage between the store and the consumer, while in Europe, all companies in the production chain and consumer pay VAT.
The European system would probably not be possible in the US, with different VAT percentages in different places.
Re:Differences between the US and Europe (Score:4, Informative)
> in the US VAT is not included and VAT rates vary between states.
There is no national VAT in the U.S. Sales tax in the U.S. varies by municipality and by product. There are three different sales tax rates within 15 minutes of my home.
Imagine advertising a sale price in a county with many cities, or a state with many counties, or on national television covering 50 states. The McDonalds $5 meal deal is a slightly different higher than $5 price everywhere you go.
Re: (Score:2)
How would we do a VAT tax on Meta?? They don't seem to add any value to anything.
Re: (Score:2)
The companies in the production chain do pay VAT, but they get it reimbursed afterwards (end of the year?). In my opinion, it's a totaly crazy system that opens up lots of opportunities for fraud and creates a ton of extra bookkeeping work.
Pick a lane, Denmark (Score:2)
Weird that within a few headlines on Slashdot I'd find both this article about Denmark preserving a more traditional form of reading, and one about [1]eliminating a similarly traditional form of reading [slashdot.org].
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/08/21/1928230/denmark-ending-letter-deliveries-is-a-sign-of-the-digital-times
Oh great! (Score:2)
A new tax idea for MAGA
It's nice, but... (Score:2)
...reading rates are falling everywhere. I suspect this is the internet mostly, aggravated by cell phones.
25% VAT doesn't help, sheesh.
That said, I myself used to read a LOT, alternating between fiction / non-fiction, but really don't so much anymore. Fiction has been suffused with identity politics, and I have struggled to find even non-fiction works that aren't trying to sell a "viewpoint"...
Egon (Score:2)
Print is dead.
No. Really. No one under the age of 35 reads much printed material any more.
the US (Score:5, Insightful)
should steal more ideas from Denmark. Not land.
Re: (Score:2)
Hey Chief, let’s start with the easy stuff, like Greenland. We can work our way back after Trump stops shopping for countries.
Re: (Score:2)
Some states don't have sales tax on anything....