Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2015-05-18-Speech-1-307-000"
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"en.20150518.19.1-307-000"2
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"Mr President, I would like to thank Commissioner Ansip. Just two weeks ago, he presented his long-awaited and much-hyped digital single market strategy. The proposals, 16 of which are to be delivered in the next five years, are a step in the right direction. But they are by no means a silver bullet. As we have heard this evening, not all proposed initiatives seem to be working for SMEs and micro businesses. In fact, my Labour colleagues and I have received, and keep receiving, hundreds of e—mails from our constituents saying that the changes introduced from 1 January 2015 on new place of supply VAT rules, as well as the abolition of the UK threshold, which was GBP 81 000 in sales per year before people and businesses were eligible to pay VAT, have caused more obstacles when selling abroad rather than helping to eliminate them.
The Mini One-Stop Shop, the VAT MOSS, was set up in order to aid businesses when selling abroad. How can they adjust their prices accordingly if they do not know what the VAT regime is in the country they are selling to?
Commissioner, in your digital market strategy, there is a mention the Commission will make legislative proposals in 2016 to introduce a common EU-wide VAT threshold to help small businesses; but by the time it becomes law, we could well be in 2017 or 2018. What do we do to help businesses in the meantime? The current legislation was designed and agreed back in 2006. However, that is almost a decade ago. I was pleased to hear what you said about e-books and the treatment of e-books in relation to printed books. Currently, printed books have a special privilege and are taxed at a reduced rate between zero and 10% across the Union. E-books are considered a digital service, even if they are actually only a book in a different format, and they are taxed at a rate between 18% and 25% across the EU.
So I welcome your comments, but I would like to see the proposals on that fairness between the virtual and non-virtual coming sooner rather than later, so that consumers across the EU can benefit from your action."@en1
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