Tax treatment for artists especially pressing for new media workers: CCA

The Canadian Conference of the Arts is hoping a Nov. 22 meeting of national arts service organizations will resolve a long-standing dispute over how artists are taxed. The CCA argues that the current taxation regime penalizes artistic workers, and hinders Canada’s ability to compete at a grassroots level in the creation of new media and other cultural content. The organization has been fighting for years against a tax-regime that treats artists as self-employed workers, denying them key benefits such as employment insurance. They are also required to pay both employer and employee portions of the CPP/QPP and to make interim tax payments on a quarterly basis. Without making any key recommendations, the CCA says the regime needs to be changed, and the Nov. 22 meeting in Ottawa will explore alternatives to the current system. Ana Serrano, who represents new media artists to the CCA, told Canadian NEW MEDIA that the issue is gaining importance in Canada as world-renowned digital media artistic community takes shape here. She says new media is gaining credibility within the artistic community as a serious art form - especially as institutions such as the Whitney Museum begin buying new media installations. Unfortunately, most new media artists are unable to make a living with their creations, and are forced into second careers to make ends meet. "The issue is really about enabling artists to create works or to create products in a supportive environment wherein they don’t necessarily have to support themselves through teaching or other forms of employment in order to be able to make enough money to live off in order to create the products that they were born to do in the first place," says Serrano. "All these initiatives are about creating a favourable tax environment for artists to do that because when you’re creating artistic and creative work, it’s not the most lucrative career move you could make." She points to countries such as Ireland that support artists by not taxing sales of their works. The CCA, in a pre-budget submission to the Standing Committee on Finance, has argued for a $30,000 tax exemption on copyright income. Serrano says new media artists are especially hard-hit since the creation of artistic works in that genre can incur greater costs than in other fields. More than canvas or plaster, new media works typically employ technologies such as video or robotics and can require the employment of programmers and other technologists to build. After taxes on grant money and paying other labourers, Serrano says little is left over for the artist. New media artists are at a disadvantage in trying to make a living because their works, especially in the sphere of multimedia, are often ephemeral. "One of the things that’s going on in the artistic world on the web is there are all these organizations that are looking to archive web art because many web artists find their artistic works disappearing when their ISP shuts down," she says. "Because it is ephemeral, it is hard to quantify and consume by the consumer. It’s not like you can purchase a piece of web art. It’s something you participate in as a citizen, consumer, and something that you experience, but it’s not necessarily something you buy in the way that you might buy a painting." Serrano says finding ways to change the tax system to support works such as these is crucial. "If we care about cultural production as an industry that produces cultural products for culture’s sake, as opposed to producing a cultural product only for commercial gain, then it’s important for us to create that kind of supportive environment to allow cultural products to happen." The Nov. 22 meeting will be yet another kick at the can after a private member’s motion in the House of Commons died a premature, pre-election death. Tabled by NDP MP Nelson Riis, the motion would have granted artists a measure of tax exemption. But it was put to a vote earlier than expected, and before its proponents could put forward an amendment that would have resulted in broad bilateral support for the idea. The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency has given indications that it will issue a draft policy in the near future that might clarify the self-employment issue, and a review by Canadian Heritage next year of the Status of the Artist legislation could also be an opportunity to re-define the tax regime for artists.

Tax treatment for artists especially pressing for new media workers: CCA

Broadcast | November 1, 2000

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