Dänemark, um die Mehrwertsteuer in Büchern abzuschaffen, um mehr Menschen zum Lesen zu bringen | Dänemark
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/20/denmark-to-abolish-vat-on-books-in-effort-to-get-more-people-reading
Von Movie-Kino
Dänemark, um die Mehrwertsteuer in Büchern abzuschaffen, um mehr Menschen zum Lesen zu bringen | Dänemark
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/20/denmark-to-abolish-vat-on-books-in-effort-to-get-more-people-reading
Von Movie-Kino
28 Kommentare
No VAT on books here either – been excluded for a very long time.
So, like the UK and Ireland then?
Now what are the chances that book prices will stay the same or only decrease slighlty?
I find VAT to be an interesting tool in general for incentivising people to buy certain categories of goods and services (e.g. sustainable, EU made, healthy products, struggling industries of national/European wide importance, etc.). I find it a shame that it‘s not used much more as such.
Are the book prices the reason for people not reading?
in italy there`s special rules for books. 4% vat, but the publisher has to pay it, not the final consumer. „iva assolta dall`editore“
still plenty of uncultured goats btw.
Ah yes, the price of books is definitely why people read less nowadays 😂
Wow there was vat on books….
Like prices is the big issue for books. Will likely have very little effect.
This law should have required to advertise the old and new price for 5 years on books. And prohibit price increases for the first 12 months. To avoid companies eating the tax cut as extra profit.
Should be EU wide, and prices cant increase to cover that gap…
Let’s reinvest in education!!!
I hope this would apply to e-books as well. Not just paper books.
as a Dane I can easily say that’s not the main problem, giving some form subsidized ‚credits‘ for e-books would help a lot more IMO…
Lowering the VAT is always a horrible policy. Nobody can prove retailers won’t pocket the difference. Just subsidise young people with a book gift card
I got hardcover history books and novels 2nd hand for less than 2 euros online. The demand for these are freefalling for the reasons everybody knows.
Technically not correct, it’s down to 0% VAT. Big difference because can keep their right to deduct VAT.
Bravo! A well thought out decision! I wish Romania would do the same!
I’m not sure if this will lead to an increase in demand for contemporary literature, but technical reference books, historical books, and children’s books may see an increase in sales.
A Book rebate voucher account which fills up over time could be more useful.
Generally though, it’s not clear to me that the Danish are becoming less ‚well read‘
Reading slop isn’t any better than watching TV, but fewer taxes is always better.
Here, the French government wanted to impose VAT on second hand books….
That reminds me of a hilarious case of France when the govt tried to push the 18 year olds to buy more books and explore museums and theaters by giving them out 350 euros each and later found out that the young had spent most of the money just on manga
https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/owc21h/france_gave_teenagers_350_for_culture_theyre/
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/21/1018924691/french-high-school-grads-are-getting-300-euros-to-help-revive-culture-post-pande#
would book prices just go up so that publishers can make more money? and you’re ultimately coming with the same prie for books, less money for the government?
I wonder if Norwegians read more than Danes. There’ve been zero VAT on books here since forever.
These kind of actions have been tried before in other countries, and the outcome is always the same: companies owning the product pocket the difference, price doesn’t move an inch.
@romanian current government coalition after the canceled elections: DID YOU HEAR THAT YOU FUCKING DONKEYSSSS
And France to try to tax second hand book market because why the hell not?
Economists: Europe needs to get it’s digital economy on track.
Europe: Nah man, print media is the way forward.