Tax Breaks for Irish Artists
The Irish artistic world has been galvanised by proposals to scrap the country’s long-treasured tax breaks for artists, warning that such a move would spark a crisis.
A committee of the Irish parliament this week heard pleas for its continuation, its defenders arguing that its abolition would be disastrous for the thriving Irish arts scene.
The Irish Republic has long been intensely proud of the measure, dating back to the 1960s, that exempts from tax income by artists, writers, composers and sculptors from the sale of their works. It is said to have helped keep financially afloat struggling artists who might otherwise have been lost to the arts, while at the same time attracting creative people to the country.