The new Giving Act, the cultural palliative with which the Rutte Cabinet claims to be accommodating the art world, is flawed. We don't say this, because we only know about art, but this is what the Dutch tax consultants say. And they know a lot about your taxes, and little about art. Extremely reliable, then.
So what is wrong with this law announced in the last million note? Let's stick with everything. The letter counts 17 pages containing a total of 57 points, all of which start with sentences like: 'The Order of Dutch Tax Advisers regrets...' and then another enumeration of things that will cost you money, and that do nothing for the art world. The Greeks make better laws than this piece of homework by the finance ministry, we can conclude.
What are the biggest objections? We list three.
1: The Giving Act supports people who donate to something cultural, but those people don't need that support at all. What is worse is that this support for those rich villa dwellers then also does not benefit art or taxpayers, but the garage and boat of the VVD-voting Wassenaar man. Had the government decided to say to a giver: if you give, we will also give something to the recipient, and you will get a benefit, there would be a meaningful law, but such a matching scheme is therefore not in it. The giver is allowed to deduct his donation for 150%, thus indirectly making Henk and Ingrid co-pay for the giver's boat, and only giving art a bad image.
2: Volunteering is penalised: only institutions that have activities done by paid staff are eligible for donations. This removes the incentive for them to work with volunteers, requiring them to incur many more costs to get a little more money.
3: The hole is all too fast. Because the cabinet wants to hurry up scrapping the Dutch cultural infrastructure, the law has to be there in just two months. That's going too fast, especially because of those 57 snags still attached to the law.
Finally: such a report from a tax consultant would make us tremble and shake. The cabal won't, because it has known better than anyone for almost a year. And last year, tax advisers were equally happy with the VAT increase on artsn. The cabinet did not listen to that either.
For the hobbyists among you, we have attached the entire letter below.
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