Tax: Contributing to a Sustainable Arts Sector in Australia – Lessons from Overseas

Abstract

The arts sector can be plagued by characteristics that make its sustainability difficult. In Australia's recent 2020 Summit, a number of tax reform ideas mooted to assist the arts appeared to be influenced by overseas practice. This article considers a number of foreign practices to ascertain whether they are formative for future reforms in Australia. The mechanisms considered will include exempt income, tax credits, value added tax concessions, transfers of art, deferred gifts and testamentary donations. It will be argued that individual characteristics of jurisdictions will mean that not all reforms are viable in the Australian context. However, it will be suggested that there is scope for improving Australia's tax treatment, particularly for transfers of art and testamentary gifts.