Copenhagen has announced a landmark decision to abolish the 25-percent value-added tax on books, making Denmark only the third European Union member state, after Ireland and Czechia, to apply a zero VAT rate to reading material. The United Kingdom also exempts books from VAT, though it is no longer part of the EU.
The move was unveiled by Jakob Engel-Schmidt, Denmark’s culture minister, who described the decision as vital in addressing what he called a growing “reading crisis.” OECD figures indicate that one in four 15-year-olds in Denmark struggles to read a simple text, a trend the government hopes to counter by making books more affordable.
“I’m incredibly proud,” Engel-Schmidt told local media. “We must put everything at stake if we are to end the reading crisis that has unfortunately been spreading in recent years. It’s not every day that one succeeds in convincing colleagues to allocate such significant funding to culture and reading.”
The reform is expected to cost the Danish state around 330 million kroner (US$34.5 million) annually, but has been widely welcomed by the Federation of European Publishers. Its president, Sonia Draga, called the move “a victory for society as a whole, for authors, publishers, booksellers, libraries and of course readers.”
Until now, Denmark had imposed one of the world’s highest book VAT rates. By joining Ireland and Czechia at zero percent, it signals a broader European shift to view reading as a basic cultural need deserving of maximum support.
