Tax on books

Press, 15 July 1982, Page 16

Tax on books

Sir,—l have been most interested in the correspondence regarding tax on books and have become profoundly aware of the immense gulf of business experience between booksellers and some book readers. As a student of commerce it is apparent to me that a seller of books, must-engage in that business only for the love of books and for the satisfaction and appreciation of its customers. For there is most definitely very little profit, and considerable expertise is required to negotiate the very fine line between disaster and the continuance of business. At a time when almost all businesses are finding it difficult to survive, it must be disheartening in the extreme for booksellers to read the criticisms of Peter. Perry (July 9 and 13) written from the security of his university salary.. I would advise him to enroll for a course in the commerce department of his university — Yours, etc., JUDY JONES. July 14, 1982. Sir,—Am I the only one baffled by the motives of those who undermine opposition to a tax on books by attacking the book trade? Writing once again (July 13) Peter Perry is nevertheless kind enough to oppose the tax, unless it applies to all goods. Now we know how to oppose a threatened tax; support its imposition. Andrew Carstairs tells of a British book selling at $23.95 which he wrongly calculates should have been $21.97. He does not mention the price I quoted to him of $20.95 if I get my usual discount. Detecting villainy where none exists, his master stroke is to encourage book buyers to put Christchurch’s good bookshops out of business by ordering from British booksellers and adding to their profits. If the tax goes through he will only have to pay $2B or so for his $24 book — if he can find it any longer, that is. —' Yours, etc., HAROLD WHITE. July 13, 1982. Sir, — People in ivory towers should not. hunt elephants. Your correspondents, in lamenting the price of imported books in New Zealand seem to have managed to overlook almost everything. — including., the 10 per cent student discount — in their specious examples. Is there an imported product in New Zealand which sells for anything like its country of origin price converted to our currency? I doubt it. It is credulous in the extreme to imagine, that the book purveyor exists outside the normal restraints of commerce: that freight’ is the only cost they bear. New Zealand offers bookshops which- compare, with' the best in the United Kingdom or the United States — remarkable, considering our size and relative isolation’ — a fact attributable to the consistent use of a. fair pricing mechanism (unchanged in its form since the 19505) and

the good will existing between publisher and bookseller. A book in the hand is worth two in a catalogue. — Yours, etc., DAVID AULT. July 13, 1982.