Denmark plans to abolish the world's highest book tax in an effort to encourage people to read more.
The tax on books in Denmark is 25 percent, and the government believes that such a policy is contributing to a growing "reading crisis."
Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt announced that the government will propose in its budget plan to abolish the book tax, which will cost the country 330 million Danish kroner (44 million euros) a year, the Guardian reports.
Engel-Schmidt said he believes risks must be taken to end the reading crisis that has been spreading in recent years.
"I am incredibly proud. It's not every day that someone manages to convince colleagues that such huge money should be invested in the consumption and culture of the Danes," the minister said.
The other Nordic countries also have a standard tax rate of 25 percent, but they do not apply it to books. In Finland, VAT on books is 14 percent, in Sweden it is six percent, and in Norway it is not charged.
Sweden reduced the tax on books in 2001, which increased book sales, but, as analyses have shown, books were bought by those who were already reading.
Engel-Schmitt said that the goal is to spread literature and that money has already been allocated to strengthen cooperation between public libraries and schools, so that more children can be introduced to good literature.
In Denmark, which has a population of just over six million, 2023 million books were sold in 8,3, in bookstores and online, according to data from the national statistics agency.
The best-selling books were children's books, picture books and activity books, while the other most popular genres were crime novels and thrillers.
If this measure does not lead to a drop in book prices, Engel-Schmidt said he will reconsider whether it was the right step.
"I will of course monitor how prices develop. If it turns out that abolishing VAT only leads to an increase in publishers' profits, without book prices falling, then we have to consider whether it was the right thing to do," Engel-Schmidt said.
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