TAX ON UNSOLD NEWSPAPER COPIES

BELGRADE, July 24 2001 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) would like to voice its support for the demands made by daily newspapers that the proposed tax on unsold copies be abandoned.

The tax, which would be levied on publishers of dailies with returns of over 10 per cent, is one of the provisions of a proposed finance ministry decree. Currently, returns of over 15 per cent are subject to the tax.

"You simply cannot pay tax on unsold copies," said Dusan Mitrovic, the head of Dan Graf which publishes daily Danas.

"This tax was introduced during the reign of Slobodan Milosevic for political reasons. Together with the misdemeanour fines under the Public Information Act and other measures, it placed pressure on the independent media in order to destroy them."

Head of Blic Press, Miodrag Djuricic, said that adopting the decree would be "disastrous" and would worsen the already difficult conditions under which print media operate.

"The tax on unsold newspapers is yet another burden for publishing houses, which already have to cope with a sales tax of 20 per cent - the largest in Europe," he said.

"It is as if somebody wanted to close down the print media."

Djuricic added that the situation for newspapers is currently worse than under the previous regime.

ANEM therefore demands that the finance ministry reconsider its proposed decree as well as the current tax on returns of over 15 per cent.

ANEM would like to emphasise the extreme importance of the independent media in this period of transition and democratisation. If media are to become truly independent and professional, they must be allowed to do business without legal hindrances.

ANEM also calls on the relevant authorities to look seriously into other problems facing the print media. One example is that of the only local Hungarian-language paper, Magyar Szo, whose employees are currently striking over the failure of its owner - the Vojvodina parliament - to discuss the increasing number of problems that are arising.

ANEM also calls on all local media houses to demonstrate their solidarity with the dailies in jeopardy.

Veran Matic
Chairman of the ANEM Managing Board