Italian government to revamp publishing sector subsidies
The Italian government has given the preliminary go-ahead to a revamp of subsidies for publishing companies, including hikes in value added tax and less postal benefits, said the Corriere della Sera, citing government officials.
The revamp follows an Italy antitrust authority fact-finding study which recently found subsidies of nearly 500 mln eur for the sectors. Analysts had said they didn’t expect changes to the aid.
In its Saturday edition, the newspaper said Friday’s ministerial meeting approved an increase in VAT to 20 pct for some add-on products sold with publications, from the current 4 pct rate.
The increased VAT will not be applied to add-on books, DVDs and CDs, the newspaper said. The antitrust authority said DVDs and cassettes normally pay 20 pct tax when sold separately.
Another government change is for publishers to pay the full postal tariff on publications sent by post, instead of a reduced rate, with this change being introduced in 2011, it said.
The antitrust authority said these benefits amounted to 299 mln eur in 2006, against 303 mln in 2005, including 174 mln for profit-making companies.
In 2005, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA received 18.9 mln eur, Il Sole 24 Ore SpA, which plans a bourse listing, 17.8 mln, RCS MediaGroup SpA 13.8 mln, and Editoriale L’Espresso SpA 4.7 mln.
