MPs reject push to scrap VAT on textbooks

MPs yesterday rejected the push to scrap the 16 per cent value-added tax imposed on textbooks three years ago.

Members of the Finance, Planning and Trade Committee said there was no guarantee that if the tax was scrapped more people will read or that more books will be published.

Committee Chairman Benjamin Langat (Ainamoi), his deputy, Nelson Gaichuhie (Subukia), and members Makali Mulu (Kitui Central) and Daniel Nanok (Turkana West) said "even the publishers do not want books exempted".

They told a petitioner, book collector Njoroge Waweru, that they were unlikely to yield to his petition seeking an amendment to the VAT Act, to scrap the 16 per cent tax.

"The publishers do not want books to be exempted, because, that means they will not get anything back from the taxes they pay on paper and ink. They all come saying they want books zero-rated so that they can claim tax refunds on input. But that's not the direction we want to go," said Mr Gaichuhie.

Mr Waweru had told MPs that the tax made books very expensive and discouraged many people from reading, and that even university scholars were not publishing extensively.

"If the tax is removed, more scholars will publish and the Government can collect taxes by targeting royalties and the pay made by the many publishing editors who will be employed," Njoroge told the committee. But the MPs rejected the theory.

"That is not true. It is not automatic," said Nanok.