When it comes to e-books, the situation is a slot different in Europe, then it is in the United States of America. Besides having to deal with the difficulties of creating the novel, the writers are also in the difficulty when it comes to the sales.
What many people did not know is the fact that in Europe, there are certain taxes which people have to pay in case they want to buy an e-book. In the majority of the countries from Europe, people have to pay full tax for the electronic books. This means 25 percent in Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Hungary, and other countries. The printed books do not have the save tax rate, because they benefit from the industry lobby. Because of this, it is very difficult for the writers to write their books in electronic format. They either make less money, or they stick to the traditional method.
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E-Book Taxes In Europe (Source: e-book.com.au)
Even so, the popularity of the electronic books is on a constant rise, The European Federation of Publishers from Brussels, stated that the sales of the electronic books will increased with 20 percent this year. The same cannot be said about the sales of the printed books. They represent 98 percent of all the book purchases, but even so, they have been stagnating in the past period of time. The sales of books reached 23.5 billion euros last year, but even so, it is a 2 percent decrease. In 2010, the sale of e-books was of 345 million euros.
In the United States of America, the e-books are not subjected to taxes, unless the retailer has a shop in the country. Even so, the taxes range between 1 and 10 percent. In the U.S, the regular books are taxed as well. In 2010, in the United States of America, the e-book sales reached $878, which is 6.4 percent of the profit made by the regular books. In Europe, there is a pretty big difference between the taxes applied on the books and on the e-books. In Germany for example, the printed e-books have a 7 percent tax, whereas the e-books have a 19 percent tax. In France, the regular ones has a 5.5 percent, whereas the e-books have a 19.6 percent. In Britain and Ireland, the regular books do not get taxed, whereas the e-books have a 20 percent tax.
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E-Book Taxes In Europe (Source: graphics8.nytimes.com)
France will be the first European country to lower the taxes on e-books, thus defying the decision made by Brussels. Spain might do the same, and so could Britain.
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