Tax hike would hit new releases and sales says association

The Association of Czech Booksellers and Publishers on Thursday called on the government and parliament not to hike Value Added Tax on books from 10.0 percent to 20 percent under a proposed standardization of sales tax rates. The association said that thousands of books would not be published if the step was taken in a public call to defend books. The association has started to collect signatures against the tax rise. It says book sales and new releases were seriously hit when the tax was previously raised to 10 percent.