Brussels will take a step towards adjusting its arcane VAT rules to the digital age by allowing reduced rates of tax on ebooks.
As well as ebooks, digital newspapers would also become eligible for reduced rates, he said. The change would give each national capital the right to bring down VAT rates close to zero if they wished. The move is an early step in a commission strategy, announced in April, to overhaul EU VAT rules to give national governments more flexibility in the rates they set.