France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
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France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
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Re: France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
#2It's a little more difficult. The proposed legislation is not accepted, and will probably not be:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%...
Re: France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
#3Right now in the UK, VAT is at 20% on ebooks as it is for any other standard rate item. Physical books and magazines are at 0%. Most people won't be paying this though, as sites like Amazon sell from Luxembourg where VAT on eBooks is 3% (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId...). This can mean that providing a digital product (this recently came up with the Linux Voice IndieGoGo http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/linux-voice/) doesn't knock off as much of the cost as you might expect.
Re: France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
#4This is the same in the Netherlands - VAT on ebooks is 21% ("luxury goods"), normal books are at the 6% rate (same as household goods, foods, etc). Then again, there are more strange classifications in any tax schedule - hamster food is taxed at 21%, rabbit food at 6% (rationale supposedly being rabbits are food too...) and fixing a moped is 21%, but a bike is 6%.
Re: France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
#5Yeah, thought that was a great idea and was happy that the law was voted... and two days after, Assembly voted an article cancelling this one, pushed by the government.
A big lobbyism at work and a "Europe won't like it and will condemn us" excuse. Our government has no balls.
Re: France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
#6This is the same in the Netherlands - VAT on ebooks is 21% ("luxury goods"), normal books are at the 6% rate (same as household goods, foods, etc). Then again, there are more strange classifications in any tax schedule - hamster food is taxed at 21%, rabbit food at 6% (rationale supposedly being rabbits are food too...) and fixing a moped is 21%, but a bike is 6%.
The only problem I have with an analyzed/conditional tax system is the legitimacy of the party in charge of collecting it.
Everyone can nod their heads at taxing vehicles more than bicycles, but if that additional government income goes into tax breaks for certain corporations, or bad social policies (everyone thinks there's one!).
This is why I enjoy flat taxes, so we can focus more on the policies that money provides, rather than siderail that discussion with debates on what those taxes should be.
Obviously we should implement policies that become less expensive with time, but hearing that the Netherlands has a 21% tax rate on moped repair is insane. What does that money directly contribute to? The military? Tax breaks?
With flat sales taxes we can focus directly on policy. Everyone is equal in terms of the percentage of product consumers must pay in taxes, for their product.
Re: France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
#7Having DRM is not the cause of higher VAT, is being an electronic document what makes the VAT being the standard and not the reduced one.
And it is and European categorization, all the countries members of the EU must use that VAT
Re: France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
#8Yeah, thought that was a great idea and was happy that the law was voted... and two days after, Assembly voted an article cancelling this one, pushed by the government. A big lobbyism at work and a "Europe won't like it and will condemn us" excuse. Our government has no balls.
It is not an excuse, a member can't change the type of VAT applied to products
Re: France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
#9What happens when one buys an electronic book from outside France ( http://bookscanner.us ) ? Who pays the tax and when?
Re: France may tax publications protected by DRM at a higher rate
#10This is the same in the Netherlands - VAT on ebooks is 21% ("luxury goods"), normal books are at the 6% rate (same as household goods, foods, etc). Then again, there are more strange classifications in any tax schedule - hamster food is taxed at 21%, rabbit food at 6% (rationale supposedly being rabbits are food too...) and fixing a moped is 21%, but a bike is 6%.
The only problem I have with an analyzed/conditional tax system is the legitimacy of the party in charge of collecting it. Everyone can nod their heads at taxing vehicles more than bicycles, but if that additional government income goes into tax breaks for certain corporations, or bad social policies (everyone thinks there's one!). This is why I enjoy flat taxes, so we can focus more on the policies that money provid…
I'm sure the government will just happily give tax breaks (this need not be VAT...) or contracts to Big Business in a land of flat taxes, really. I think, on average, that I'm pro non-flat taxes. I'd love to see books NOT be taxed 25% here.