VAT a threat to book-loving Czechs

In order to finance its pension reform the Czech Republic's conservative government plans to double the value-added tax on books and newspapers, among other things, from next autumn, raising it from 10 to 20 percent. This has prompted resistance from writers and publishers alike. The liberal daily Pražský deník sees the move as barbarous: "This is a measure that will hurt both Czech literature and Czech readers. The association of booksellers and publishers compares it with the expropriation and introduction of censorship of 1948, as well as after 1968, when hundreds of thousands of books by banned authors were seized. Cultural barbarism takes different forms. Sometimes the written word comes under threat from ideological fanatics; sometimes from the arrogance of the market. But it is always a cultural crime. ... You can levy taxes on words, but you can't silence them. Governments come and go but books will always remain. And by the way: In the beginning was the word - not value-added tax."

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