A generation of young artists will be lost if Minister for Finance Brian Cowen abolishes the income tax exemption for earnings from their work, the Arts Council warned today.
In a media briefing to unveil the its pre-budget submission, Arts Council director Mary Cloake said
Playwright Conor McPherson: When you have a success then the rewards are as big as that success. But a big success in any artists career is very, very rare indeed
there would be serious consequences for the State if the exemption was abolished.
The council produced figures showing that, in 2001, of 1,300 artists who benefited from the scheme, almost 90 per cent had earnings of €11,000 or less. Only 7 per cent earned over €100,000, though this should not be seen as a reason for placing a cap on exempt earnings, Ms Cloake said.
She said there would be little or no benefit to the exchequer if a cap was put on the level of exempt earnings. She said artists rarely make significant incomes within Ireland and those with high earnings were largely generating them abroad.
Consequently, these people would restructure their tax affairs and not bring their foreign earnings to Ireland, with a knock-on effect for investment and the development of skills and knowledge in the arts and related employment, she said.
Arts Council director Mary Cloake
Ms Cloake also said an end to the scheme or a cap could mean an artist who believed they had significant potential for commercial success may choose to emigrate.
"A whole generation of artists in Ireland who have availed of the tax exemption and live in Ireland and are making money because it is there. But the next generation may well be lost to London, Paris and New York [if the exemption were abolished]."
Playwright Conor McPherson - who has had success in the West End and attended today's briefing - said higher earnings for a particular year were often a one-off for the artists who had to make money stretch over a number of years. Often the development of a work can take a number of years, he added.
"When you have a success then the rewards are as big as that success. But a big success in any artists career is very, very rare indeed," Mr McPherson said.
Chair of the council, Olive Braiden, said: "Many artists will emigrate in search of lower costs of living - because of course in this country the cost of living is very high; and it would be a benefit for many artists to live closer to cultural hubs and then the big loss of all is that artists will pursue alternative employment in order to supplement their incomes."
The exemption was misunderstood, she said, and there was a need to for the public to realise in particular that only earnings for original and creative works. Performance and recording, for instance, was not exempt.
"What a lot of people don't understand is that it is not a rich man's relief. . . .
If you're very rich you can't put all your assets into writing books of poetry or doing a beautiful painting in order to get the tax exemption," she said.
Minister for Arts John O'Donoghue has given his strong public support for the exemption.
The pre-budget submission sent to Mr Cowen today includes figures and a publication compiled by Pricewaterhousecoopers containing testimonials from artists who have benefited from the scheme.