Pricing Policy - Georgia
By Erina Lin, Tuesday 30 January 2007 at 13:54 :: General :: #221 :: rss
by Tatiana Repkova
Cancellation of tax privileges for the press has already had a negative result – the price of one of the most popular Georgian newspapers, Alia, has increased by approximately 30 percent – from 0.5 GEL to 0.65 GEL. The managers of the newspaper say the increase is due to “unexpectedly increased life costs” and “cancelled tax privileges.”
Alia has published an editorial concerning this issue, which states that “even the increased price will not cover the newspaper’s costs, however otherwise publishing of the newspaper would be impossible.” The editor also notes that if the situation improves the price will decrease again, especially given the last year’s precedent when Alia’s price increased up to 0.7 GEL, but then went down to 0.5 again.
In the editorial, Alia criticizes Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze and members of parliamentary faction “National Movement – Democrats” Mikhail Machavariani and Giorgi Bokeria for cancelling the tax privileges initiated by President Mikhail Saakashvili in 2004. The print media was exempted from profit and property taxes between 2005 and January 1, 2007. Profit derived from publishing, and property and belongings of those working in media that were used for publishing purposes were exempted from taxes. Last year’s consultations between the leaders of Parliament and editors ended without success. http://www.media.ge/eng/news_detailed.php?id_numb=1737; January 30, 2007
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