Tax on Knowledge
Imposition of additional taxes on book discourages book importers making the process of book import complicated
By A CORRESPONDENT
With a demand to reduce the additional tariffs on book and treat the imports of book in a definite procedure, the booksellers in Nepal have stopped the imports of new books resulting in the scarcity of books in the markets. Even as there are scarcities of books in the market, more than Rs 20 million (US$300,000) worth of books are lying in the custom offices in Birgunj and Bhairahawa.
According to the book importers, like all importers of essential commodities, now they also have to pass through the lengthy custom procedures, which will make the book import virtually impossible. The recent budget presented by Madhukar Sumsher Rana not only imposed additional taxes on book but also made the procedures complicated.
“The budget provisions on July 16 have imposed an unprecedented custom duty of 6.5 percent on books imported to Nepal . This has shocked and disturbed scientists, book traders, writers, all professionals, scholars and students,” said Madhav Maharjan, general secretary of National Booksellers and Publishers Association of Nepal (NBPAN). “Keeping in the mind the serious concerns expressed by the large section of the public, our association calls upon the government to withdraw the custom duty on book import in the interest of promoting knowledge and learning in Nepal.”
Nepal is not self sufficient in the book production and the country needs to import large number of academic books from different parts of the world. Mostly the books published by internationally renowned publications will suffer from the additional taxes. As India is the third largest book publisher in the world, Nepal imports most of the books from India .
From higher secondary to higher studies, Nepal ’s curriculum prescribes books of renowned writers and publishers from different parts of the world. The additional taxes will affect the teaching-learning process of the schools. The government will generate a marginal amount of revenue by imposing additional taxes on book but the loss on the knowledge will be irrecoverable.
“ I don’t see there is any reasonable argument behind imposing the additional taxes on book. It is just being penny wise and pound foolish,” said Dr. Lok Raj Baral, a renowned political scientist. “You cannot control the quest of human being to acquire knowledge.”
Nepalese students studying in various medical colleges, engineering colleges and other academic institutions are already facing hard time thanks to unavailability of books prescribed in the courses.
At a time when the number of private medical colleges, engineering colleges and other higher education institutions continue to rise, there are high demands of books written by renowned scholars and publishers.
For the last fifty years, there were no provisions of taxation on books but in his first budget, finance minister Madhukar Shumsher Rana suddenly imposed additional taxes on book.
Being a member of UNESCO, Nepal needs to respect its constitution and charter of books. “The present decision is going to hamper broader interest of Nepal . Since Nepal is also popular tourist destination, demands for international standard book are very high in Nepal ,” said Maharjan.
At a time when government colleges are on virtual standstill due to students’ agitation, the government’s move to impose additional taxes will disturb the students studying at private colleges.
Sooner the government settles the issue, better for the students, scholars and other professional people. As Nepal is a member of World Trade Organization and is moving towards globalization, there is a need to bring down tariff barriers, more so if that barrier could become knowledge barrier.
