Lithuania’s Justice Minister, Juozas Bernatonis proposed an end to punitive value added tax rates for publications deemed unethical Monday after the Journalists and Publishers’ Ethics Commission added Lietuvos Rytas and Respublika to their list of unethical publications subject to a 21 percent VAT.
Lithuania’s Justice Minister, Juozas Bernatonis proposed an end to punitive value added tax rates for publications deemed unethical Monday after the Journalists and Publishers’ Ethics Commission added Lietuvos Rytas and Respublika to their list of unethical publications subject to a 21 percent VAT.
Bernatonis said the existing VAT penalties provide fertile ground for censorship by the Journalists and Publishers Ethics Commission.
Publications declared ethical by the commission pay a reduced 9 percent VAT.
Bernatonis said, “ethics is a rather abstract concept, [the] understanding and interpretation of which depend on the subjective opinion of people who make decisions.”
“The media cannot be additionally taxed for ethical violations,” the Bernatonis said.
The commission considered adding Vakaro Zinios to the list of unethical publications.
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