Cultural diversity group calls for new European tax rules

The European Coalition for Cultural Diversity have called for a renewed effort by Europe to create a financial system of cultural support that meets the needs of the digital era.

The group has organised a conference at the European Parliament in Brussels with the support of deputy Pervenche Bérès to push for the ending of a financial regime that it sees as penalising cultural production and benefiting large multinational corporations.

The coalition has called for cultural goods sold via digital distribution platforms to benefit from the same tax breaks afforded to other cultural goods, and praised European countries that have levied VAT on digital books at the same rate as physical books as setting a good example.

The group also called for an overhaul of taxes applied to cultural goods at a European level to prevent international groups avoiding their responsibilities, including the responsibility to support domestic cultural production.