Over 30 newspapers and news media are calling on the coalition partners to scrap plans to increase value added tax on newspapers from 9% to 21% from 2026, saying it will limit access to investigative journalism for people on low incomes.

In a full page advertisement, the media said the rise will cause subscriptions to fall and further “a growing news chasm”.

The rise will also have financial consequences for papers, particularly smaller and regional titles and “threaten the diverse character of journalism in the Netherlands”, the editors of the Volkskrant, NRC, Trouw, AD, Telegraaf and the regional papers said.

The editors called on the parties to scrap the rise “now you still can”.

A 21% tax rate would put the Netherlands among the European countries with the highest VAT on papers, along with Bulgaria.

The rise agreed on by PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB came as “a complete surprise”,  Corine de Vries, chairwoman of the Dutch association of editors, told broadcaster NOS. “I don’t get it. The parties are saying reading and writing skills are important but then they make papers, magazines and books more expensive,” she said.

VAT will also go up on tickets for theatres, museums and and concerts but not for amusement parks and cinemas.

The association of independent theatre producers VVTP said it hoped the increase would be scrapped.

Most theatergoers go to musicals and other large-scale productions and a rise in VAT would hit cultural entrepreneurs who do not get any subsidies hardest, a spokesman told RTL Nieuws.