The announcement caused a lot of reaction. On April 12, visiting the Paris Book Festival, Emmanuel Macron had announced the establishment of a “contribution” on the second-hand book market to “help protect the single price (which has existed in France since 1981) and allow our authors, publishers and translators to be better helped” . Without giving any further explanation.
This Friday, April 26, at the microphone of RTL, the Minister of Culture was not very verbose either. “Today, I’m thinking about it. I’ve found something like a little device that would make it possible to increase the remuneration of authors without affecting this sector that I can describe as a ‘solidarity economy'”, he said. -she simply stated.
It is true that taxing second-hand books, this would penalize the least advantaged buyers such as young people, students, the unemployed (in 2022, according to a study by the French Society of the Interests of Written Authors, 80 million second-hand books were purchased in France). The Ministry of Culture therefore seems to favor the abandonment of taxation, including on large distribution groups (Amazon, eBay, etc.) which would have passed it on in their prices anyway, by making readers pay it.
But not regulating the second-hand market also means penalizing the remuneration of authors and publishers who do not receive rights on this parallel circuit.. Rachida Dati will therefore launch a reflection to find a way to increase the income of book and publishing players from the sale of new books, but always with the same imperative: not to trigger an increase in the prices of new books which would prove counterproductive in a market that has been in decline in recent months.
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