Displaying items by tag: tax

On October 17, France’s Assemblée Nationale rejected an amendment proposed by the center-leaning UDI party (Union des démocrates et indépendants), which set out to make works of art susceptible to ISF (l’impôt de solidarité sur la fortune, or solidarity tax on wealth). The amendment failed 18 votes against 3.

President of the party who put forward the proposition Philippe Vigier said: “It is a case of supervising the practices of a speculative market and not at all a question of taxing culture or creativity.”

French prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, decided not to impose a wealth tax on works of art after a massive backlash that involved the country’s leading museums, including the Louvre. The tax, which was proposed by President Francois Hollande as part of his 2013 budget plan, was to be enforced on works worth upward of $65,545 (50,000 euros) in an effort to reduce France’s deficit. Museum leaders became particularly incensed after budget minister, Jerome Cahuzac, championed the tax.

The heads of France’s seven largest museums banded together and sent an angry to the culture ministry stating that the tax would harm their collections as owners would be dissuaded from lending their privately-owned works in an attempt to hide their identities. Additionally, the tax could scare off potential art collectors, weakening the overall market.

In light of the harsh criticism, Ayrault stated that the wealth tax would not be approved although it had already been passed by the Assemblee Nationale’s finance committee.

Andy Warhol once said, “Good business is the best art.”  And while he wasn’t referring to art museums per se, he might as well have been. These days, museums across the country are fighting to stay in the black—and now some of them are asking folks to pay more in property taxes to make up the shortfall.

Last Tuesday, voters in three Michigan suburbs agreed to a raise their property taxes to save the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), which has struggled mightily with its finances for the past decade. Unlike most major metropolitan museums, the DIA operates without a significant endowment and receives no financial support from the city of Detroit or the state of Michigan.

Voters approved what’s known as a millage tax, a fee assessed on the value of your home. The more your property is worth, the higher your tax. In this case, the DIA levy costs approximately $15 for every $150,000 of a home’s fair market value, and will raise around $23 million a year from Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties (the last of which includes Detroit).