DEFENDAOLIVRO Is Defend The Books
The hashtag, which was issued on Twitter around the world, coming from Brazil, in defense of books, for which a law was proposed to impose taxes on it at a rate of 12%.
And the Brazilians launched an extensive and wide campaign that was signed online to reject such laws that they believe are aimed at losing awareness of raising the prices of books.
Sign here Say No to Taxing Books
Minister Paulo Guedes sent a tax reform proposal, in that proposal, a 12% tax was placed on top of books, currently, books do not have this rate, because the purpose of this (when proposed by Jorge Amado) was to make access the easiest culture. Unfortunately, we know that access is no longer so easy.
If approved, books will become more expensive and this will not only affect people who like to read, but it will also affect smaller publishers who are already struggling to survive and consequently the authors of books (especially those who are not famous).
The consumption of books is already a completely elite consumption, imagine if this is approved? The average reading rate for Brazilians is ONLY two books per year and even then the reform was underway. Is it a means of containing information from people?
When asked about this, Minister Paulo Guedes AFFIRMED that they would donate books to the “poor and fragile”, but the rich should pay taxes on the books. But I ask you: with the government’s track record of helping the “poor and fragile” do you really think this will happen? What books are they talking about that they are going to donate? Why did he say that and at the same time no proposal of this type was forwarded to the congress? There are hardly any books in public schools for all students!
Rather than pursuing policies so that books can be accessed by most if not the entire population, the government is doing just the opposite.
“An author receives, on average, 10% of the book’s cover price for copyright. If the reform is approved, the government will start receiving 12%. That is, more than the author of the book.”
