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In Touch: Calls for VAT-free Ebooks

Calls for VAT-free Ebooks

BBC Radio 4 - In Touch, Calls for VAT-free Ebooks

Publishers call for VAT to be abolished on digitally-downloaded books.

Publishers call for VAT to be abolished on digitally-downloaded books. Plus the In Your Pocket streaming device that can now use video to help visually-impaired people.

Due to a long fought-for change by member states to EU legislation, the UK government now has discretionary powers to abolish VAT on all ebooks. The CEO of the Publishers’ Association says that no VAT would help people on low incomes including some visually-impaired people for whom these are essential.

Reporter Tom Walker looks in to why Ofcom ruled that a London shock jock overstepped the mark when he derided a visually-impaired man for wanting to be the first person to train with a guide-horse in the UK.

Tom Walker also asks Allan Tweddle, a candidate in the recent local elections, whether a grant for aspiring visually-impaired politicians which is to be-reinstated in 2019, would have been of use to him.

In Your Pocket, a one-buttoned smartphone, will now be able to video call with a volunteer assistant. Roger Wilson-Hinds tells us why In Your Pocket and Be My Eyes app are teaming up.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Lee Kumutat
Reporter: Tom Walker

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