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Cape Town - The ANC in Parliament on Tuesday said no decision had been taken about zero-rating value added tax (VAT) on books.
It said a statement by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday, that Parliament's finance portfolio committee was considering a Budget amendment in this regard, was inaccurate.
"The DA's public announcement, claiming that the... committee is considering a budget amendment to remove value added tax on books, is inaccurate and was done to deliberately mislead.
"Surely parliament cannot 'consider' something that it has never discussed.
"The proposal for zero-rating on books was indeed tabled before the committee for consideration by the DA, but it was neither discussed nor decided upon," the ANC's parliamentary caucus said.
The DA on Monday said Parliament was ready to force Treasury to scrap VAT on books in a bid to improve levels of education in South Africa.
DA MP Dion George told reporters at a parliamentary briefing that the standing committee on finance took a unanimous resolution last month to ask the Treasury to provide it with a report on the likely impact on the fiscal framework of zero-rating VAT on books.
In its statement on Tuesday, the ANC said the matter had been forwarded to Treasury, but only once Treasury had completed a research exercise would the committee then "discuss and decide accordingly".
