A move by the Government to reveal the names and details of payments made to farmers by the EU but to withhold information regarding the top ten artists in receipt of tax exemptions has been strongly criticised.
The Fine Gael spokesperson on community, rural and Gaeltacht affairs, Deputy Michael Ring has called for the review of the Artists Tax Exemption. Following a Dáil question the Finance Minister Brian Lenihan revealed that over the period 1994 to 2005 a total of €273.9 million has been written off by Revenue Commissioners on the tax exemption scheme for artists since the scheme was introduced.
Dep Ring had queried various aspects of the scheme and the Minister responded: “The Artists’ Tax Exemption was introduced in 1969 to help create an environment in Ireland in which the arts could flourish and to encourage artists living abroad to come and live in Ireland. Under the scheme, income earned by artists, writers, composers and sculptors from the sale of their work (books and other writings, plays, musical compositions, paintings and sculptures ) is exempt from tax in Ireland in certain circumstances.
“The exemption is only available to individuals who are resident or ordinarily resident and domiciled here for tax purposes and not resident elsewhere. The exemption is one of the reliefs covered by the restriction on the use of tax reliefs, which took effect from January 1 2007.
“With regard to the top ten recipients of the exemption in each of the past ten years, I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that their obligation to observe confidentiality for taxpayers and small groups of taxpayers precludes them from providing the information requested.”
Dep Ring said this was a massive amount of money each year and that these artists don’t have to pay tax on the income they receive. “Many of those artists are earning huge sums of money. Why should their work be exempt from tax? I had also questioned who the top ten recipients of the exemptions are. This information was not forthcoming from the Minister.
“The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food seems to think it is fine to release the information regarding payments made to farmers from the EU. There is no obligation to observe confidentially for these people, yet here we have the top ten recipients of the Artists’ Tax Exemption being protected by the State. Their names are not being released. It is time this scheme was reviewed,” concluded Dep Ring
