§ Mr. Freudasked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State answering in respect of the Arts whether the Minister for the Arts has made a study of the potential effects of the imposition of value added tax on books at (a) the current rate and (b) 5 per cent. on national and local library provision; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WaldegraveLocal authorities reclaim VAT on their non-trading activities, so that the imposition of value added tax on the purchase of books would not increase the costs of public libraries. The costs of the British Library would be increased by £500,000 per year if value added tax was imposed on books at the current rate, and £167,000 if the tax was levied at a rate of 5 per cent.