Irish artists pay no taxes

Well, in the U.S. it's usually the well-heeled who, through their army of lawyers, advisors and accounts move their money around in such a way that they end up paying no taxes.

So on the surface, I can't say that I mind all that much that since 1969 Ireland has granted artists tax-free status on their income.

The latest list published by the Irish government lists 1,512 musicians, writers and artists who are exempted from income taxes on their creative work.

The people of Ireland, seeing such native Irish as Elvis Costello, Sinead O'Connor and the playwright Conor McPherson on the list, perhaps might have turned a blind eye much as do the British when the list of the Queen of England's enormous holdings are published, but the fact that more and more artists from around the world are immigrating to Ireland to take advantage of this potential windfall has got their knickers in a twist.

The novelists Frederick Forsyth and Michel Houellebecq, singer Lisa Stansfield and the members of the band Def Leppard are just a few of those who've moved to Ireland to take advantage of the Emerald Isle's generosity.

The Arts Council, a national financing body in Ireland, said the exemptions are needed to support artists who make less than the minimum wage and whose income varies from one year to another.

The council reported that in 2001 more than half of the tax-exempt artists earned less than $12,900 and that 87% earned less than $64,000.

Now the country's Labour Party is suggesting that writers, artists and musicians earning more than $156,000 a year should lose their tax-free status.

[via Brian Lavery and the New York Times]