I think our regime of applying GST on books is wrong-headed. In the UK, the VAT is not applied to books. The BISG making this move looks like seeking concessions for a lack of foresight in their industry. The rather spectacular collapse of Borders earlier in the year points to a cluster of issues the peak bodies have yet to deal with. The age of the local bookshop is truly up; those that remain will be the cultural institutions (like Readings), where value-adding is a key attraction to customers. For those of us wanting to get the latest Stephen King novel without hassles, the internet has well-and-truly become the first port of call.
Changes to the tax regime should not be made simply to support industries that have failed to keep up with the times. I can see a time looming when second-hand books will be the backbone of the real-world market, with a likely decrease in print runs for new titles. A decade from now will probably see the majority of readers carrying libraries around on an electronic device in much the way that people no longer accumulate CDs in order to listen to music. Micro-purchasing for books is already with us, along with public domain downloads of out of copyright material, and the BISG have yet to seriously grapple with what this might mean for their members. Instead, they are arguing about terrestrial trade boundaries.
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