In an effort to bring books back into the spotlight, the Danish government announced that it would be scrapping a 25% sales tax, one of the highest in the world.
The move comes as part of a government drive to combat what officials are calling a “reading crisis”, and which they partly attribute to the high cost of books.
The move comes after alarming OECD data which reveals that a quarter of the country’s 15-year-olds can barely understand a simple text.
Denmark’s Culture Minister Jacob Engel-Schmidt said he would be proposing the tax abolition during budget negotiations, estimating that the measure will cost the government around 44 million euros annually.
The aim, he said, is to incentivize youngsters to return to books. “Money should be spent on investing in the consumption and culture of the Danes,” Minister Engel-Schmidt told Ritzaus Bureau.
Several other European countries already apply reduced or zero VAT on books. Sweden cut its book tax to 6% in 2001, Finland charges 14%, Norway exempts books entirely.
In Greece, VAT on books is at 6%.
