A fair page for Australian stories: remove GST from books and protect local literature with fixed book pricing

The cost-of-learning problem hiding on the booklist

The cost of education starts before a student reaches the classroom. Families pay for uniforms, devices, stationery, transport, camps, textbooks, and novels. Finder estimates that a basic back-to-school pack costs $712 for a primary student and $1,166 for a secondary student. Textbooks and novels account for about $120 and $278 of those totals respectively.

Books are a smaller expense than tuition or technology, but they are recurring and often non-discretionary. Secondary textbook and stationery packages can cost hundreds of dollars, while tertiary students may need several prescribed texts for their subjects. A household with more than one student feels those costs at the same time.

The people producing Australian books are also under pressure. Authors earn modest incomes from writing, independent bookshops face intense competition from large online retailers, and local publishers compete with imported content and generative artificial intelligence systems trained on creative work without permission or payment. An affordability policy should help readers without making the local creative market less sustainable.

What families stand to save

The source model considers a household with one primary-school child and one secondary-school child. It estimates that the family spends $770 a year on textbooks, homework guides, reference materials, and recreational books.

With books exempt from GST and the proposed pricing protections in place, the model reduces that annual cost to $607.60. That is a saving of $162.40, or 21.1% of the baseline book budget. The same dollar saving matters most to a household with the least room in its budget.

These figures are illustrative policy scenarios, not a price forecast or a guarantee of household savings. Actual results would depend on the books purchased, retailer behaviour, and the final policy design.

Two structural reforms that work together

The package combines a tax reduction with market rules intended to keep the benefits of that reduction from being absorbed by dominant retailers or publishers. Neither measure should be treated as a substitute for competition oversight, copyright enforcement, or support for open educational resources.

1. Make books GST-free across formats

Australia applies 10% GST to printed and digital books. The Commonwealth should amend the GST law so that books are treated as essential educational and cultural goods, regardless of whether a reader chooses print or a digital edition.

Removing GST from a tax-inclusive price reduces the shelf price by about 9.1% when the full saving is passed on. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission should monitor prices and report publicly on whether readers receive that benefit. The United Kingdom’s experience with digital publications shows why this safeguard matters: tax relief can strengthen publisher margins instead of reducing prices when pass-through is not scrutinised.

The exemption should use clear, format-neutral definitions. It should cover books used for reading and learning without creating a loophole for products that are primarily advertising. Existing parallel import protections should remain in place so local publishers can continue investing in Australian editions and authors.

2. Establish fixed book pricing for selected titles

Fixed book pricing allows a publisher to set the retail price of a qualifying new title and limits the discount a retailer may offer. France and Germany use this approach to prevent large retailers from selling a small number of bestsellers below cost to draw customers away from smaller bookshops.

Australia should apply the framework to new Australian-authored and educational titles, with retail discounts generally capped at 5%. The policy should include carefully defined exceptions for direct school and library purchasing, accessible editions, used books, and other cases where a fixed price would obstruct access rather than support it.

The purpose is not to make every copy of every book cost the same. It is to stop a price war in a narrow part of the market from weakening independent bookshops, reducing author royalties, and concentrating sales in a handful of global bestsellers. Retailers would still compete through range, advice, events, delivery, and customer service.

Evidence from European markets indicates that fixed pricing can support more outlets and a wider variety of titles without a clear increase in average book prices. It can also give publishers and authors a more predictable basis for royalties than a system in which deep retail discounts are deducted before creators are paid.

The gains extend beyond the shelf price

Keep print accessible for deep reading

Digital books are portable, searchable, and available instantly. Print remains important for students who concentrate and comprehend more effectively on paper, as well as for people who cannot rely on a suitable device or internet connection. A format-neutral tax exemption avoids pushing low-income readers toward one format solely because it is cheaper.

Give libraries fairer access to digital collections

Libraries can pay more than the consumer price for an ebook while receiving only a restricted licence. Some titles are withheld, and access may end with the licensing agreement. Tax relief would reduce acquisition costs, but broader procurement and licensing standards are still needed so public and school libraries can preserve and lend digital material reliably.

Expand open educational resources

Open educational resources are free, peer-reviewed materials that students can download and print. James Cook University’s Textbook Affordability Project shows the potential: small grants helped academics replace prescribed commercial textbooks with open texts and produced substantial savings across large student cohorts.

• Fundamentals of Physics saved 241 students about $149 each, or $35,909 across the cohort.
• Slide into Histology replaced three prescribed books and produced potential savings of $491,036 across 1,729 students.
• Foundations of Nursing Skills replaced two prescribed books and saved 1,400 students about $258 each.

Open resources complement rather than conflict with the two core reforms. GST-free and fairly priced books help when a commercial title is needed; open publishing removes the price barrier when institutions can create and maintain a suitable alternative.

Protect Australian creative work in the AI economy

Stable book pricing cannot resolve the unauthorised use of books to train generative AI. Copyright policy must separately require licensing, credit, and payment when protected Australian works are used commercially. Together, fair retail rules and enforceable licensing can help preserve the economic incentive to produce distinctively Australian writing.

These are established policy tools

Australia would not be starting from scratch. Other countries combine reduced consumption taxes, fixed pricing, or education support in different ways. Their experience shows that the two policy levers are practical, while also demonstrating the need to adapt them to Australian institutions and competition law.

Affordability needs enforceable safeguards

A tax exemption only helps readers if the saving reaches the shelf price. Government should therefore publish price data and give the competition regulator enough information to identify unexplained increases after the tax change.

Fixed pricing should be narrow and reviewable. The law should define which Australian-authored and educational titles qualify, prevent publishers from using the scheme to suppress genuine competition, and retain exceptions that protect access for schools, libraries, people with disability, and readers buying used books.

Evaluation should consider average prices, bookshop entry and exit, regional access, title diversity, author income, library costs, and household spending. If the policy protects industry margins without improving access or cultural diversity, it should be adjusted.

Reduce the barrier, not the reading

Literacy and education should not be treated as luxury purchases, and Australia should not accept a book market in which lower family costs come at the expense of local writing. Tax and competition rules can address both pressures when they are designed as a coherent package.

Removing GST from books would lower a direct barrier to reading. Fixed pricing for selected local and educational titles would limit predatory discounting and give authors, publishers, and independent bookshops a fairer foundation. With strong monitoring and access safeguards, the result can be a more affordable booklist and a more resilient home for Australian stories.

Sources and further reading

• Finder: Back-to-school costs and statistics
• Productivity Commission: Restrictions on the Parallel Importation of Books
• Parliament of Australia: GST inquiry evidence on disability services
• UK Parliament: VAT zero-rating of electronic publications
• Council of the European Union: Reduced VAT rates for electronic publications
• International Publishers Association: Fixed book pricing explained
• Cambridge Judge Business School: Fixed book pricing, consumers, and the economy
• Australian Society of Authors: Artificial intelligence and authors’ rights
• James Cook University: Textbook Affordability Project
• National Library of New Zealand: Reading on screen and in print
• Australian Library and Information Association: Ebooks and elending issues paper (PDF)