European law specialist Alexey Dimitrov reacted to the Saeima's decision to tax Russian books four times more than Latvian books.
“In January of this year, I purchased several books in Russian in Riga: Navalny's 'Patriot', Silis's 'Mikhail Eisenstein', and Grisham's 'The Exchange'. I paid VAT at a rate of 21%. If these books had been published in Latvian or English, a rate of 5% would have applied, and I would have paid 6.89 euros less. This upset me, so today I sent a request to the State Revenue Service to compensate for the difference and to apologize,” wrote Alexey Dimitrov on social media.
He believes that such a different VAT rate violates the principle of tax neutrality enshrined in the EU VAT Directive. If there is no difference for the consumer regarding the language of reading, then books in different languages are similar and competing goods, and different rates cannot be applied to them.
“If the language does influence the choice, then it should be assessed whether the prohibition of discrimination has been violated. By applying VAT regulation, the state implements EU law, and it is subject to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Article 21 of the Charter prohibits discrimination, including on linguistic grounds. Moreover, Directive 2000/43/EC prohibits both direct and indirect discrimination based on race and ethnic origin in relation to access to goods and services,” writes Dimitrov.
He notes that the regulation effectively establishes a standard rate of 21% for books in Russian, Belarusian, and Romani languages. However, it should be taken into account that these languages are the languages of national minorities in Latvia. Article 22 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights provides that the Union respects cultural, religious, and linguistic diversity — and this includes respect for minority languages.
For Latvia, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities is also mandatory. Paragraph 1 of Article 4 states that any discrimination based on belonging to a national minority is prohibited.
“If compensation is denied, I will have the right to go to court. The court will have the authority — and if the case reaches the Senate, it will be obliged — to refer the question to the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the correct application of EU law in this case,” concluded Dimitrov.
