Knowledge and education being unaffordable are one of the pillars of populism.
cause and effect relationship left the chat
Whether the tax is 10% or 23%, it’s the reasoning that is hilariously dumb. “Only the rich people buy books anyways”.
Yeah, our government manages to stride that perfect line between ridiculous and sad.
thats ridiculous
That’s ridiculous. Shouldn’t culture and knowledge be widely accessible?
Patheticly stupid decision worthy of the mafia ficler gov.
I guess generally speaking, we are seeing a huge decline in the quality of governments, members of parliament, etc in Europe and in the EU when compared to the 70, 80s, 90s. The sheer amount of stupidity that goes around, the populism, the lack of care for the citizen, the groundless statements, the lack of structural policies… And in a day and age where apparently people are more educated. It is shameful
Sounds ridiculous and in a way is, but hear me out… it kinda also makes sense.
Most countries have a reduced VAT rate for books because access to knowledge and culture and whatnot. This dates back to when books were *the* way to get knowledge. Now the internet is everywhere. If someone doesn’t know something, it’s not necessarily because they couldn’t afford the book that contains that knowledge.
There are also e-books (which I’m not sure were ever taxed at the same reduced rate to begin with? at least they aren’t in Hungary) and public libraries are still around too. So buying printed books now often only serves vanity purposes; for instance a stacked bookshelf looks good as a video call background.
This is the exact same thing the Dutch right-wing coalition has decided to enact. Raising tax on books from 9 to 21…
The rich should get their wealth taxed instead, since they’re the privileged class whom always benefit from conditions otherwise harmful to the rest of productive society.
And social trash media are free! Enjoy poor people!
This should be the first example under the definition of “populism” in the dictionary. Until dictionaries get taxed too, obviously. I mean: only rich people would use words they don’t already know and need, dictionaries are suspicious as hell
And here I thought the tobacco smuggling morons in the Romanian government were special 😂.
Slovakia have a very small tax for manufacturing industry? I know whirlpool fire 1000 people in Italy to move production in Slovakia right?
hope they have kindles down there. just epub the shit out of these fuckers.
Guess I’m rich then?
This requires a little bit of legislation in Brussels and Strasbourg to limit the taxation of essential goods such as food and medicine and books and essential services like appliance maintenance and construction services to include insulation and the reduction of energy consumption.
There is a 27% tax on books in Hungary by default.
20 comments
The finance minister said that books will be taxed the same as other goods because they are mostly purchased by wealthier individuals.
https://tvnoviny.sk/ekonomika/clanok/926022-knihy-si-kupuju-bohatsi-ludia-povedal-minister-kamenicky-budu-spadat-pod-najvyssiu-sadzbu-dph
This, along with the increase in tax from 20% to 23%, is part of a consolidation package to mitigate debt and spending.
https://www.aktuality.sk/clanok/QtMNCMp/rast-dph-na-slovensku-premier-fico-avizoval-zvysenie-na-23-percent/
They also introduced new taxes, including a controversial tax on financial transactions, getting inspiration from Hungary.
https://spravy.rtvs.sk/2024/07/media-obleteli-spravy-o-zdaneni-vyberov-z-bankomatu-a-prevodov-penazi-rezort-financii-to-popiera-a-hovori-o-klamstvach/
Edit: links
Knowledge and education being unaffordable are one of the pillars of populism.
cause and effect relationship left the chat
Whether the tax is 10% or 23%, it’s the reasoning that is hilariously dumb. “Only the rich people buy books anyways”.
Yeah, our government manages to stride that perfect line between ridiculous and sad.
thats ridiculous
That’s ridiculous. Shouldn’t culture and knowledge be widely accessible?
Patheticly stupid decision worthy of the mafia ficler gov.
I guess generally speaking, we are seeing a huge decline in the quality of governments, members of parliament, etc in Europe and in the EU when compared to the 70, 80s, 90s.
The sheer amount of stupidity that goes around, the populism, the lack of care for the citizen, the groundless statements, the lack of structural policies…
And in a day and age where apparently people are more educated.
It is shameful
Sounds ridiculous and in a way is, but hear me out… it kinda also makes sense.
Most countries have a reduced VAT rate for books because access to knowledge and culture and whatnot. This dates back to when books were *the* way to get knowledge. Now the internet is everywhere. If someone doesn’t know something, it’s not necessarily because they couldn’t afford the book that contains that knowledge.
There are also e-books (which I’m not sure were ever taxed at the same reduced rate to begin with? at least they aren’t in Hungary) and public libraries are still around too. So buying printed books now often only serves vanity purposes; for instance a stacked bookshelf looks good as a video call background.
This is the exact same thing the Dutch right-wing coalition has decided to enact. Raising tax on books from 9 to 21…
The rich should get their wealth taxed instead, since they’re the privileged class whom always benefit from conditions otherwise harmful to the rest of productive society.
And social trash media are free! Enjoy poor people!
This should be the first example under the definition of “populism” in the dictionary. Until dictionaries get taxed too, obviously. I mean: only rich people would use words they don’t already know and need, dictionaries are suspicious as hell
And here I thought the tobacco smuggling morons in the Romanian government were special 😂.
Slovakia have a very small tax for manufacturing industry? I know whirlpool fire 1000 people in Italy to move production in Slovakia right?
hope they have kindles down there. just epub the shit out of these fuckers.
Guess I’m rich then?
This requires a little bit of legislation in Brussels and Strasbourg to limit the taxation of essential goods such as food and medicine and books and essential services like appliance maintenance and construction services to include insulation and the reduction of energy consumption.
There is a 27% tax on books in Hungary by default.