Problem of Books with VAT

We are an interesting society ... Why are authors blamed for writing books, although they don"t have any profit from writing books? Yes, and those who read are also scolded in a similar form, as if from reading they acquired something, or achieved something. And, in general, things are not easy in our country for those who read and those who write these books.

To write a book is one problem, to sell it is another, and not to make a profit from a book that has a small reading audience is the third problem ... This can be called Sisyphean Labor. But in general, authors whose books do not make a profit, and there is little interest in them, moreover, in a country where these authors are deprived of state support, can be considered as disinterested and heroic personalities. Attitude towards writing books in Azerbaijan differs from attitudes towards those in the entire civilized world. Of the many examples, one country is exemplary.

Attitude to Books in Norway

This country, like Azerbaijan, is rich in natural resources. However, unlike us, this country is able to effectively use funds from resources, and is perceived in the world as a successful model. And this country is called Norway. In a Scandinavian country, the attitude of the state to writers is as follows: if someone wants to write a book, the state enters into an agreement with him, called "grants," determining his monthly salary. The author before the completion of the writing of the book receives this salary. After the publication of the book, state support does not end. The libraries of the states create good conditions for the promotion of the author"s book.

The Norwegian state buys 1,000 copies of his book from the author and distributes them to various libraries. Despite the fact that for many years I have had the opportunity to observe the results of state support, I could not fully determine what advantages this characterizes. However, as a result of the investigation, I was able to understand the performance of such state support. The main indicators were two factors that led to the following results: first, propaganda at the state level leads to a rapid increase in the number of books in comparison with countries of the world, and secondly, it stimulates the Norwegians to read. In recent years, a report has been distributed on the number of books on average in every home throughout the world. According to the report, Estonia is in the front row - 218 books, Norway - 212, Czech Republic - 204, Denmark - 192, Russia - 154, and Turkey - 27. It turns out that in Norway, concern about publishing books has led to an increase in the interest of citizens to buy books, as well as to increase the number of books in each house.

According to another report, Norway not only entered the top five, but also managed to become a world leader. According to the results of this report, Norway is considered the most reading country in the world. High living standards and welfare indicators are pleasing to the eye. A lot of free time (in this country, the working day is reduced to 6 hours) increases the chances of enjoying life and increasing interest in reading books.

Society Losing from Absence of Books and State Earning on Books

In a society so sensitive to the book theme, the state should not only support this type of activity through financial instruments, but also subsidize this area. However, in our country, the state not only does not give this business the green light, but also waits for publications to pass to the red light.

I remember exactly that in 2011 the Union of Writers of Azerbaijan sent an appeal to parliament asking them to abolish the VAT used in the country for the sale of books. 8 years have passed since that time, but neither VAT (18%) on the sale of books has been eliminated, nor have the import duties on paper products changed.

You can make a simple calculation. If the publisher publishes a book abroad and brings it to our country or imports printed matter, then the publisher will have to pay a 9% import duty and 18% of VAT. The publisher, in addition to other employee payments, is forced to pay 27% of taxes and non-taxes. Because of government agencies that want to earn so much on books, publishers have to sell books at 50% more to earn something. And a citizen must take on the tax burden that the consumer must pay, so we have such expensive books. Does the state claiming such earnings know how much society loses from the lack of books?

In the most developed countries of the world, not only high tax rates are not applied to books, but even in some countries they are generally exempt from taxes. The tax burden applied to the book - a source of spiritual food, is withdrawn from the luxury goods and services. The state"s fiscal bodies do not claim much from the book business. In this case, there is no place or time for thoughts like "how to get more payment". Therefore, with regard to the publication of books, one can speak only of symbolic taxes. In budgetary revenues, it is necessary to consider economic activity, which serves to educate society, not as a business, but as an integral part of an educational campaign. State revenue should be not taxes, but enlightenment since tomorrow"s potential taxpayers are formed in an enlightened society. Among them are born people who will contribute to the economic development of the country with their ideas, creative attitude and innovative thinking. From this point of view, I am not in favor of considering education and enlightenment as a business, since in theory of economics education is considered a quasi-social fruit. That is, even if it is a private educational sector, then it cannot be unambiguously classified as a single business or public fruit, since there are elements relating to both. At the same time, there are so many sources in the budget revenues related to tax and non-tax payments that if you use them, it will be possible to be exempted from all types of tax or apply a purely symbolic tax rate to a book publishing company, which is one of the important strategic areas.

In fact, the economic philosophy of applying a tax is the role of a "stimulus" to stimulate the economic development of this area. If the state wants to develop this area, then reducing fiscal discounts can stimulate the flow of public resources. Subsequently, the state may acquire the opportunity to collect even more taxes from potential business entities. However, if a strict tax regime is undertaken, then long-term stagnation will occur in this area, leading to inertia. From this point of view, I am in favor of not only reducing VAT, but eliminating it altogether. In elimination of VAT on books in Azerbaijan, a break may be announced until the book market is fully formed. Such a step in the current situation is necessary.