If you are a reader of ebooks and live in the EU - including the UK - be warned that from 1st January 2015 the prices of your downloaded ebooks are set to rise. How much by? By a minimum of 17%. And which supplier of whatever commodity could absorb such a price rise and not pass it on to its consumers?
This has arisen because the EU, in its wisdom, has decided to re-apply the rate of VAT (Value Added Tax) not based on the supplier's country of origin, but on the consumer's country of origin - and in the process amass a weight of bureaucratic paperwork enough to sink the entire continent. And having sold just a single ebook (or anything downloadable, be it a song, a game, a teaching class, etc) the supplier will be trapped in interminable paperwork *forever*.
And the inequity of the entire thing? I can sell one of my paperbacks in the UK, any distributor can sell a copy of one of my paperbacks in the UK, and no VAT is chargable. I, they, sell the same title as an ebook and 20% VAT has to be applied. And the unelected heirarchy in the EU want to know about it. And about you, the purchaser. Big Brother is not only watching, but wants the information, probably in triplicate.
It's not often I get political, but I do get angry.
My advice to readers of ebooks? Download your wishlist before Big Ben chimes in the New Year.
Ahem... "You may say that, but I couldn't possibly comment." ['House of Cards']
ReplyDelete