The idea of taxing books resurfaces. During his visit to the Paris Book Festival which ended on Sunday April 14, Emmanuel Macron indicated that he wanted “put in place at least one contribution” on the second-hand book market in order to “to protect the single price and [de] allow our authors, publishers and translators to also receive better help”. He left it to Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, to make announcements on this subject before the end of the show. They were still expected on Monday April 15.
In the eyes of the President of the Republic, “the used book, when it is marked by certain platforms”, can make it possible to circumvent the single price. He endorsed the vision of the National Publishing Union (SNE), for which the second-hand book market becomes an unfair competitor when works in new condition are put on sale at a price lower than that charged in bookstores, in supermarkets, and in FNAC or Cultura stores.
In the Soft Power program on France Culture, Sunday April 14, Vincent Montagne, the president of the SNE, clarified that such a tax would only target platforms “industrial” − like Momox, Amazon, Rakuten, or ebay −, but in no case second-hand dealers, second-hand booksellers or Emmaüs. These distribution giants will have an easy time attacking this new tax if it does not apply to everyone.
“A few cents per pound”
“The used book market has become a sector within the sector”explained Mr. Montagne, detained by “major international players who do not pay taxes in France”. This new tax envisaged at 3% on each second-hand book would be subject to “of French and European legal discussions “. It would only represent “a few cents per book and therefore should not change the fact of buying or not buying a book”he added.
According to a study by the Ministry of Culture and French Society of the Interests of Written Authors (Sofia), published on April 10, second-hand books, which are increasing every year, represented in 2022 nearly 20% of copies purchased and less than 10% of the market value.
This enthusiasm is very prosaically due, according to this study, to financial reasons, in these times of high inflation and rising prices of works. To a marginal extent, these second-hand purchases are also motivated by ecological reasons. Moreover, “the number of buyers of second-hand books has increased, whereas the number of buyers of new printed books has increased,” underline the authors of the study.
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