Cultural sector fears abandoning reduced VAT rate

• The ‘Taskforce culturele en creatieve sector’ is concerned about the possible abandonment of the reduced VAT rate for culture.
• The taskforce represents all workers, self-employed individuals, and organizations in the cultural, heritage, and creative sector.
• The taskforce has sent a letter to the State Secretary of Finance expressing their objections to abandoning the reduced VAT rate and highlighting the benefits of the low rate.
• The CPB has calculated that abandoning the low VAT rate for culture would result in a burden of €300 million for citizens and €100 million for businesses.
• International research and practical examples show that a low VAT rate stimulates demand for cultural goods and services and increases employment.
• The cultural and creative sector has a high percentage of self-employed individuals, and an increase in the VAT rate would make them 12 percent more expensive to hire for clients.
• The taskforce believes that an increase in the VAT rate would directly threaten the livelihoods of workers in the cultural and creative sector.

Source: taxlive.nl

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

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