Press VAT Condemned Internationally

Proposals to impose VAT on newspapers in next month’s budget are being interpreted internationally as a bid by the government to punish British press.

In a letter to Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, Scott Low, president of the International Federation of Newspaper Publishers, urges him not to introduce any level of VAT on newspapers. He warns that there is “a suspicion abroad that a certain desire to punish one of the world’s liveliest and most politically robust press industries might be one factor in making such a decision.”

He also points out that Britain is one of just two European countries to still be suffering a decline in newspaper readership, and that the imposition of VAT could only reduce further the number of people buying newspapers.

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