Independent Publishers: Charhinets Uses Same Logic As All State Gangsters

Yesterday, Mikalai Charhinets suggested introduction of a tax for foreign books.

Chairman of the Union of Writers of Belarus (UWB) Mikalai Charhinets offered to deduct certain amounts from the sales of foreign books, to the Literature Fund. He said this at the congress of the UWB. Mr. Charhinets thinks it reasonable to deduct taxes from sales of the foreign literature, brought form the foreign countries, and the Belarusian books published by non-state publishing companies. According to him, the money is planned to be forwarded to stimulate the development of the Belarusian literature, Radio Liberty reports.

What do the independent publishers, whom Charhinets offers to burden with yet another tax, think about this idea?

Director of the Literature House “Lohvinau” Ihar Lohvinau assessed the initiative of Mikalai Charhinets the following way:

“Charhinets uses the same logic as all state gangsters do: rob and divide. In their favour. They cannot find the finance in the state budget so they offer taking money from someone else. No normal country has state-owned publishing companies now. This is not the state’s business - to print books. The state’s problem is regulating in the sphere of culture. For instance, the Poles spend 2% of the GDP on culture development, and this includes the books culture, the literature. They don’t think about taking this money from someone someplace. Secondly, these 3% offered by Charhinets will be paid by our readers in any case. Belarus has ceased to be the “most reading country” long ago. The books here are several times more expensive than in Russia, for instance, the Russian books. Introduction of yet another tax will crash the reader.

And, thirdly, this is a blow against independent publishers, and correspondingly, against the Belarusian literature. Because most timely Belarusian authors are published exactly by independent publishers. The state publishing companies issue things like two-volumers of Anatol Rubinau’s or other writers of the kind. If they introduce this tax, we will get the kind of literature Charhinets seems to like, for our own money.”

Director of the “Haliafy” publishing company Zmitser Vishniou thinks the very idea to deduct a certain percentage for the development of the Belarusian literature is not bad, but he doesn’t understand why it concerns independent Belarusian publishers. Moreover, it’s mostly independent publishers who work with the Belarusian authors, 90% of books he published were in the Belarusian language.

“When I worked as a literature consultant in the Union of Belarusian Writers back in the 1990s, my older colleagues told me there used to be certain deductions from books publishing to the Literature Fund in the Soviet times, and it was considered reasonable. I think that maybe the very idea of transferring some amounts is interesting, but who can guarantee that this money will go for the development of literature? Maybe it is reasonable to deduct money not from book-publishers, but from some other commercial branch and forward it for publishing the Belarusian literature? I think the taxes should be totally reoriented.

As for our independent publishers, they barely survive. It is very hard for the independent publishing companies to work today, especially it concerns those who work with Belarusian books. Another question is, why should this only concern the independent publishers? Is it really so that they take money from us, the non-state publishers, and give it to the state ones, which already receive subsidies from the budget?”