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actually there ARE taxes on sales... it's called VAT and is charged at 20% of the price... Amazon can't avoid the VAT bill

They actually tried to avoid VAT on ebooks in most EU countries by setting up their servers in Luxemburg that had a 3% VAT on ebook sales, compared to e.g. 20% in UK. Other ebook sellers naturally followed Amazons lead, until it became public knowledge, e.g. as described in http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/oct/24/amazon-tax-loophole-ebooks . The latest development is that VAT on ebooks and similar is paid depending on the location of the consumer, as described in http://www.thebookseller.com/news/e-book-prices-may-rise-vat-law-kicks.

The better question is why are ebooks subjected to VAT in the first place when printed books are not.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/uk-government-holds-firm-e-book-vat.html

in a written response reiterated the government's position "Under EU law, VAT on electronic books must be charged at the standard rate. A reduced rate cannot be applied to digital or electronic supplies, or supplies of text via the internet, as they are classed as supplies of services rather than physical goods. There is therefore no scope in the principal VAT directive to apply a reduced rate on e-books."

This study actually correlates purchases and piracy:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/21/study-finds-pirates-buy-more-music

The rest of these articles link back to the studies they quote. They are basically information that states how piracy has actually helped industries to make money.
Piracy is good:
http://www.mindjack.com/feature/piracy051305.html
http://moreintelligentlife.com/story/internet-piracy-is-good-for-films-1
http://torrentfreak.com/why-most-artists-profit-from-piracy/
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/99958-toc-piracy-may-boost-sales-research-suggests.html

What a shame neither common-sense or basic facts back you up - http://www.thebookseller.com/news/99958-toc-piracy-may-boost-sales-research-suggests.html

I wondered when they'd get around to doing this. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't try it sooner.

You can safely assume that if used clothing became fashionable amongst the moneyed classes, clothing manufacturers would try to force Goodwill and the Salvation Army out of business. Value is tied to scarcity, so trying to generate artificial scarcity is a pretty standard tactic. In a field like "intellectual property", where all scarcity is artificial, sharing is viewed as a sin.

Booksellers in the UK are already trying to force charity shops to stop selling second hand books near their stores - http://www.thebookseller.com/news/93224-oxfam-accused-of-damaging-independents.html

Ian

There is a new ruling for German books sold in Austria that takes a stab at the law.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/84235-court-rules-out-austrian-fixed-price-imports.html

I do not respect this law or it's benefactors and am glad any politician here promoting such would become a pariah.