Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did. There is a strange anomaly in this regard. Many schools are moving onto the digital platform. First year students at a number of schools in my area of County Galway do not have heavy satchels or bags because they have been equipped with tablets. One pays 0% VAT when one buys a school book in a local bookstore, which is more than appropriate. That is the way it should be. However, one has to pay 23% VAT when one buys an electronic copy of the same book to download it onto one of these devices. Ultimately, we should encourage young people to move onto a completely digital platform. This is an anomaly in EU taxation law. The European Union dictates that the higher tax or VAT rate that applies in each jurisdiction must be imposed on digitally-traded services. I think the application of this country's 23% VAT rate to school books on the digital platform is an unintended anomaly of that regulation. I hope to take up that matter with my colleagues in the European Parliament in Brussels to see whether it can be resolved.

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