Book Sales Tax (H 5158)

This bill would have clarified the current tax exemption that exists for the sales of books by their authors to apply to works of non-fiction as well as fiction. Currently, the Division of Taxation and the Council for the Arts, the agencies responsible for implementing this law, distinguish between the two, interpreting the exemption for “an original and creative work” to only apply to works of fiction. In addition to raising serious First Amendment issues through this distinction, the agencies provide no guidance for what constitutes a work of fiction or a work of non-fiction; how, for example, would a non-fiction, graphic autobiography such as Persepolis be viewed? We testified in support of this important bill, but it died in committee.