French ministers plans tax on Electronics

The reason is to compensate the French state broadcasters for a revenue shortfall of up to 1 Billion Euros. The French government has decided to scrap advertising on public television and radio. Ministers now plan to add taxes on purchases of devices that can receive television images. Ministers believe it will be easier to impose additional taxes on these, since many of their manufacturers are based in Asia, Financial Times reports. Bernard Heger, director of Simavelec, a French electronic equipment industry federation, warned that the taxes would have a severe impact on consumer prices when many households are replacing older sets with flat-screen digital televisions. A tax of 1 or 2 per cent on the average LCD television price of €775 would add €15 to €30 to the price he told Financial Times.