EU's new VAT rules likely to make ebooks cheaper

The European Commission is proposing to let member states reduce the rates of value added tax (VAT) on digital books and newspapers.

Under the current EU rules, member states are only allowed to apply reduced VAT rates to physical books and newspapers.

Luxembourg and France had introduced reduced rates for ebooks, but were scolded by the EU's Court of Justice last year. The court ruled that under the current EU rules it was illegal for them to have done so.

The ruling was “...