Going After Europe’s VAT Tax

A collection of celebrity musicians is calling for drastic cuts to the European Union’s “Value Added Tax” (VAT) on CDs and other recorded media, to bring the tax rate in line with what consumers pay for newspapers, books, and concert tickets. The VAT is similar to U.S. sales tax, and just as a state may set its own sales tax, an EU nation may determine its own VAT rate on a variety of products. VAT tax on CDs runs between 15% and 25%, while the rate on books is closer to 5%.