Ireland may abandon tax exemption scheme for creative writers

[emad]

Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Saturday June 18, 2005
The Guardian

Ireland, the land of saints, scholars and scribes, still nurtures a guilt complex for banning and exiling its greatest literary names. Joyce, Beckett, Wilde and Shaw all fled its mean-spirited ways. So for the last 35 years, the world's smallest cultural superpower has consoled itself with a unique act of generosity: writers, artists and composers are spared from paying tax.

But Celtic Tiger Ireland is now being accused of reverting to its old philistine ways as the government consults in secret on whether to scrap the scheme.

Detractors claim that tax-avoiding British writers are taking advantage, and that an elite of millionaire popstars is using it to get rich. The Arts Council is outraged, arguing that Ireland faces losing "one of the most enlightened pieces of legislation ever introduced for the arts in any country".

The scheme was dreamt up 1969 - the year Beckett won the Nobel prize for literature. It was the brainchild of Charles Haughey, then finance minister, now better known as the disgraced taoiseach who once spent £6,000 of public funds on Parisian shirts and took up to £8.5m in payments from businessmen. Haughey wanted to be seen as a patron of the arts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1509279,00.html

[dutchdemocrat]

1. U2

U2 should pay some taxes.

[smirkymonkey]

2. How about basing it on an income threshold?

Those making more than a certain amount must pay tax, but the less commercially successful would be exempt.

Why don't middle of the road solutions ever occur to anyone in power? It's always all or nothing. :shrug:

[mainer]

3. It always seemed weird to me that U2 doesn't pay taxes

And I know a number of high-earning American writers who've moved to Ireland because they don't have to pay a single dime in income tax.

[1932]

4. They still have to pay US tax, but they get the first $80-90K tax free.

So, moving to Ireland is only worth about $25K in saved taxes.

[Straight Shooter]

5. "only" $25,000?

Perhaps it's all relative, but I'm sure that $25,000 could be spent on some very useful matters in Ireland.

[1932]

6. Ireland isn't cheap, and if you fly your family back to US a couple times

a year, then you can go through that 25K pretty quickly.

The weather stinks too.

If an artist making +200k a year moves to Ireland to save 25K...well, I'm just not sure if it's worth it.

If you're a young artist, however, and you make little money, it might be worth it.