However, it is still unclear from which year the subsidy for the delivery of subscription publications will be canceled.
Let us remind you that this week the Saeima is to approve in the first reading amendments to the Value Added Tax Law, which deprive magazines, newspapers, books, and electronic media in the Russian language of the reduced VAT rate of 5%. A rate of 21% will apply to Russian publications, including those published in Latvia. However, this was not enough for the proponents of democracy, and the Ministry of Transport, following the Prime Minister's instructions, prepared an information message and a draft Cabinet decision instructing to present amendments to the laws that deprive the delivery of subscription publications in Russian of state subsidies. Although Russian publications account for only 9.3% of the total number of subscription periodicals. Thus, for the first time, the state decides to use economic instruments to combat publications based on language criteria!
Here is how the decision approved by the government today sounds: "The Ministry of Transport, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, to assess the possibilities of changing the conditions for the application of state support regarding payments from the state budget for the delivery services of subscription printed publications, limiting the application of state support only to subscription printed publications published in the state language, as well as in the historical form of the Latvian language - Latgalian written language and in the Livonian language, or in any of the official languages of the EU member states, the European Economic Area, the Swiss Confederation, candidate countries for the European Union, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development."
