Simple logic.
The theater is a luxury. Those who enjoy it must pay taxes for that luxury.
(Above and beyond the already astronomical and restrictive price.)
The only people who bother to go to the theater are rich anyway, its a sort of backdoor towards raising taxes on the rich. Right? Those people who aren't rich can always go to the movies to avoid these taxes. We won't tax movie tickets.
Embarrassing proposal. I love these cosmetic cost cutting measures that nail things like arts spending; parts of the budget that account for almost nothing. Politicians "make the hard choices" by cutting tiny, struggling programs that have shitty lobbyists.
Because, it's clear to me, that the Arts-as-a-Whole has the shittiest lobbyists in the universe. The fucking Peanut Industry has better lobbyists. The guys who make toys that could choke kids spend more money on lobbyists than the entire arts community, I'd bet. I'd be slapping my dead grandma if I found out that Broadway producers spend a tenth of what is spent by the Wire Coat Hangers industry to protect its funding and political interests.
Serious question, though. If this idiotic waste of a tax did pass, would this tax apply to non-profit productions? Or just commercial productions? Is that distinction proposed or even considered?
About Me
- Freeman
- Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.
2 comments:
"The fucking Peanut Industry has better lobbyists."
Word.
A double "hear, hear" on that one. Not just about this, but about the whole kit and caboodle. For an industry that seems utterly dependent on government support (and resentful of how little we get), it seems that remarkably little goes into getting it.
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