Tax cut "necessary"

“The death of booksellers is not coming, it’s already here”

Stagnating sales, high ancillary costs - the domestic book trade is struggling with challenges that are so great that they are bringing many entrepreneurs to their knees. How the turnaround is to succeed and what drastic consequences the death of booksellers will have.

"High inflation, higher rents, increased staff costs, ...", says Ingrid Parzer, listing the causes that are making life difficult for booksellers. The managing director of the book and media industry section of the Chamber of Commerce (WK) knows the bleak reality: since 2012, 17 bookshops in Carinthia have had to close their doors for good, and in Klagenfurt alone, eight businesses have closed in recent years.

Added to this are the stagnating sales: Although there was a lot of reading during the Corona period, the figures are now rattling downwards - sales of -4.9 percent in 2023 were offset by a 5.4 percent price increase for books, with sales leveling off at a weak 0.3 percent. 

Rescue for the bookshops
What should help? "A reduction in sales tax," demands "Mr. Heyn" Helmut Zechner, chairman of the trade group and operator of the traditional Klagenfurt bookstore Heyn. With 10 percent VAT on books, Austria is a high-tax country - Germany charges 7 percent, South Tyrol 4 percent and Switzerland only 2.6 percent. In England and Ireland, there is no tax on books at all. "What I am saying now is a loud cry for help: we are calling for a significant tax reduction to below 4 percent. The death of booksellers is not coming, it's already here."

Helmut Zechner is a passionate bookseller: "Bookshops are knowledge and culture filling stations."(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

Due to the 130 years of fixed book prices in Austria, the gross sales price of books would remain the same despite the tax reduction - and businesses would benefit from this. According to Zechner, the example of England shows what would happen if this fixed price were to be abolished: "Large retailers have sold books at ridiculously low prices just to increase customer frequency in their stores. As a result, publishers have become very cautious when producing books by unknown or young authors, who have been put at a massive disadvantage as a result."

Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) is not very enthusiastic about the demand: "The first response from the Federal Minister was dismissive and lacking in substance. But the battle is not yet lost," says Zechner hopefully.

"There is no plan B!"
They have their backs to the wall: "Many booksellers are no longer paying themselves a wage," says Zechner, who has had to reduce his own workforce by 15 percent or four employees. Despite the high collective agreement of a 17 percent wage increase, a zero wage round in the coming years is completely "unrealistic". A reduction in sales tax is needed: "There is no plan B!"

The Heyn bookshop has been in Klagenfurt since 1868. Recently, the number of staff has had to be reduced by 15 percent.(Bild: Heyn)

The consequences of booksellers going out of business are obvious: not only a massive increase in insolvencies, but also fewer jobs, negative effects on education, democracy and the economy. "Bookshops are knowledge and cultural filling stations. That's why I'm astonished by the rejection."