Govt decision to scrap VAT on certain books queried
Govt decision to scrap VAT on certain books queried
Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Businessmen in the book publishing industry questioned on
Tuesday the government's decision to scrap the 10 percent value-
added tax (VAT) on books in three categories -- education,
religion and holy books -- as of March 1, 2002
The owner of the Metafor publishing company, Richard Oh, asked
why the tax exemption was granted only on these three categories
alone, since books of all types were educational in nature.
"Literature and novels, for example, also consist of
educational material. Why aren't they also exempted from tax?"
Richard, who is also the owner of QB World Books, asked.
It would be wise for the government to scrap the tax on all
books in a bid to help encourage the reading habit among local
people, he said.
Arselan Harahap, chairman of the Indonesian Publishers'
Association (IKAPI), said on Monday that the tax exemption on the
distribution of imported and domestically published books
belonging to the three categories affected would reduce the price
of books only by an average of four percent.
He urged the government to get rid of the hefty taxes
beleaguering the country's publishing industry so as to enable it
to produce a much greater number of affordable books.
A representative of one of the country's largest publishing
companies, Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia (KPG), said he hailed the
government's decision, but was unsure about its implementation.
KPG's editorial manager Pax Benedanto said he had yet to
receive any notification about the new policy.
"I've just learned about the decision," said Pax, adding that
he was uncertain which books were classified as educational books
as KPG considered most of its products to be educational reading
materials.
Commenting on the impact of the 10-percent VAT exemption, Pax
said that the purchasing power of Indonesian people was not
directly related to their interest in reading.
"Reading also depends on family culture, habits and whether
one finds a book readable or not," he said.