Philip M. Stone reports:
France has always had a tradition of very heavily subsidizing its newspaper industry — in the 2007 budget €274 million is allocated, a 22% increase over two years ago – but the French Culture Minister is worried that newspapers need even more help and so he has come up with a novel idea for reader tax deductible financial support.
Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres has proposed that those “newspapers of opinion” establish either an industry-wide Foundation or that each newspaper establish its own Foundation and he will officially interpret that contributions made by individuals or companies to such foundations as being eligible under his culture department patronage to be tax free.
And, frankly, there are many French newspapers that would not be alive today had it not been for such a heritage for newspaper subsidies.
Subsidies have covered everything from paying a percentage of the cost of a new printing plant, subsidizing newsprint, to exemption on paying corporation tax if the money is reinvested in five years.
Thanks to Claude Erbsen.