Ladislav Kamenický, Minister of Finance in the government of Robert Fico (social democracy, but with nationalist and populist positions), suggested in mid-September a solution to cover Slovakia’s large public debt. In particular, he recommended an increase in the tax on the value added of a certain number of products, including books.
Raising the rate from 10 to 23% would contribute to the general effort to improve finances, weighed down by a public deficit reaching 4.9% of GDP and a public debt equivalent to 56% of it. Already quite unpopular, the minister’s proposal was undermined by a declaration on his part, according to which books are part of property ” who belong to the wealthiest categories of the population »…
The poor don’t read?
To justify his proposal, Kamenický had weakly put forward various studies, including one from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published in 2014 and entitledThe Distributional Effects of Consumption Taxes in OECD Countries (Redistributive effects of consumption taxes in OECD countries).
This study noted that, in Estonia, “households that spend the least buy almost no books“. An observation made as part of work devoted to redistributive effects, in order to optimize social equity within a society, and not really with a view to restoring public finances…
READ – The book, a lightweight for added cultural value
The opposition to Robert Fico’s government did not fail to point out the contradiction: the Ministry of Finance notes that citizens with the lowest incomes have reduced access to books, while suggesting a tax measure whose first effect will be to considerably increase the price of these same works…
The President of the Slovak Republic Peter Pellegrini himself had marked his distance from the proposal, recalling in a message that “nothing can replace the feeling of entering a library, choosing a book, breathing in its scent and enjoying its text or learning something ».
Towards a cheaper book?
Embroiled in a controversy and isolated even in his own camp, the Minister of Finance finally performed the favorite trick of politicians, the backflip. On September 26, he indicated that he was submitting an amendment to the National Council of the Slovak Republic, which brings together 150 deputies.
Ladislav Kamenický has revised his forecasts and now wants to lower the VAT rate to 5% on printed works, but also on digital and audio books, previously taxed at 20%. Textbooks would remain at a rate of 5%, as he had planned in his initial project.
The minister now expects, if his amendment is adopted, a reduction in the prices of works in all points of sale. “There will be no more excuses! I will monitor carefully and report the excessively high prices for books in Slovakia!!!“, he promised on his Facebook page.
The providential reduction in the VAT rate put forward by the minister could have been even more spectacular: since 2021, the European Union has in fact authorized Member States to apply a VAT rate “super reduced», 2.1%, and even zero, on books and newspapers.
Photographie : illustration, The.Comedian, CC BY 2.0
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