Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Mike Penning (Conservative), on Wednesday, 15 November 2023, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 31 members in total.

---

VAT on audiobooks

That this House recognises that audio books, now popular and widely available across all genres, from business to academic, from historical to self help, are a lifeline for many people with sight loss, visual impairment, dyslexia or other reading disabilities; agrees that audio books offer unique opportunities for visually-impaired and dyslexic people to improve their education on a par with their peers; recognises that audio books enable visually-impaired and dyslexic people to continue working independently for longer and thereby contribute to the economy for longer; further recognises that audio books open up a world of information, literature and poetry to visually-impaired and dyslexic people; welcomes the zero-rate VAT for e-books but also recognises that e-books, when read aloud by automated text-to-speech, are difficult to listen to for long periods, lack intonation, may mispronounce names and places, can often read out every bracket and notation, making it difficult to comprehend or recall meaning; notes that other European countries have recently reduced their rates of VAT on audiobooks, including Norway to zero; and calls for equal VAT-status to be applied to audio books as already exists for e-books and physical books.

---

Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

62 

Session

2023-24

Other sponsors

Caroline Lucas

Jonathan Edwards

Jim Shannon

Chris Stephens

Claire Hanna

Subjects

VAT Audiobooks

Link

View this Early day motion on edm.parliament.uk