In Denmark, it is currently the highest tax on selling books in Europe, 25 percent. The reading crisis in Denmark is deepening and 24 percent of 15-year-old teenagers in the country cannot understand a simple text.
The Danish government, concerned about the “reading crisis”, plans to cancel value added tax for books to motivate more citizens to buy them. This was announced on Wednesday by Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt, TASR reports according to AFP report.
“We have to do everything in our power to solve the reading crisis, which unfortunately has been expanded in recent years,” said Engel-Schmidt for the Ritzau news agency, adding that the government’s draft budget will contain the cancellation of VAT in books.
AFP explains that in Denmark the highest tax on the sale of books in Europe, 25 percent. Copenhagen Copenhagen would cost about 330 million Danish crowns per year.
The latest report of the organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD) on education has raised concern in Denmark, given the finding that 24 percent of 15-year-old teenagers in the country could not understand a simple text.
The Danish publishing industry has been promoting a tax reduction for a long time and said in its May report that the government must “guarantee access to physical books for all Danes – children and adults”, adds AFP.
