Irish artists warn against scrapping tax breaks

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 late 1960s, which 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 and at the same time attracting creative people to Ireland.

The Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild, putting the case for continuing subsidy, said: "Although Ireland is a small state it has a very strong identity as a society deeply committed to all forms of artistic expression - particularly in the literary arts, including those for film, television and the theatre.

"We are seen as a people who put a real value on the intangible storehouse of the imagination."

But the country has become much more prosperous, so that in today's cash-rich Ireland some artists still languish in garrets but others lounge in penthouses.

This goes particularly for the booming music business with the emergence of Irish super-stars such as Bono and U2, the Corrs and Van Morrison and others, all of whom have benefited from tax breaks.

A left-wing politician has referred scathingly to "the continuing scandal of millionaires and billionaires who are no doubt jetting off to their luxury hideaways in Bermuda, Monaco and other places this weekend".

The exemption is one of a number of tax breaks which are under review by the Irish Government, and a decision may be made this year.

But already there is talk of a cap being placed on the exemption to curtail its benefits to the very well-off. If a cap is imposed, the political feat will be to put it in place without affecting those who continue to toil in garrets rather than in luxury.

There would also be a considerable stir if any new official moves produced an artistic exodus. The tax break helped to reverse the traditional pattern of Ireland losing many of its most creative artists.

There is public resentment about tax breaks for millionaires, but at the same time some of the stars are highly popular.

Bono, for instance, is held in high regard and there would be dismay if he should ever re-locate. He has said he intends to stay, and has made the point that although his band's earnings from musical composition are tax-free, they pay "a lot of tax - enormous - millions of tax" on sales of CDs and earnings from touring.

The argument is made that big stars, even if they avoid paying some tax, enrich Ireland artistically and in terms of international profile, and generate much ancillary economic activity by their presence.

- INDEPENDENT