In France, the second-hand book market is estimated to be worth over 350 million euros. This financial opportunity attracts many who would also like to take a slice of the pie.
Last April, Emmanuel Macron proposed a tax on second-hand books to support authors and publishers, whose income mainly comes from the sale of new books.
However, the market for new books is in decline in France, with a slight increase of 1.16% in revenue in 2023, while the sale of copies has dropped by nearly 2%.
This raises the question of how to recover funds from the second-hand market, with the aim of providing additional compensation to authors and publishers.
An amendment proposal has been made in October 2024 to tax sellers of second-hand books (or rather the online platforms that offer them, like Momox) to compensate for the economic losses suffered by authors.
However, legal experts point out that this could be legally complex and risky for competition, as it would be difficult to legally differentiate between online resellers, referral sites, and physical booksellers.
Taxing only online sales platforms could also create market imbalances.
Furthermore, implementing such a tax must comply with European regulations, which complicates the situation even more.
This is because, until now, the European directive 2001/29/EC stated that once a new book is sold, no rights can be asserted over it: the buyer fully enjoys the purchased work and can, for example, lend it to a friend or their children for reading.
This also allows the person to resell their book – just like one can resell a Toyota car without the manufacturer receiving a percentage of the sale.
To change this, it would first be necessary to establish copyright on second-hand books, which currently does not exist and complicates matters.
Ultimately, the debate highlights a broader issue regarding the sharing of value in the literary industry in France.
Instead of demonizing the second-hand market, which can attract new readers and stimulate the purchase of new books, France would be better off considering other solutions to support the book industry and promote reading, rather than adding new taxes that would further hinder the development of reading in this European country.
There's no doubt that this tax affair won't stop there, and with the country in political crisis (Prime Minister resignation), it's easy to imagine that those in power, led by their publisher friends, won't stop there.
If you liked this article, consider sharing this page on social network or to someone that could benefit from the information.
