French tax credit for art buyers proposed

The French like their art.



Last year, a government proposal to subject artworks to France's existing wealth tax in a bid to help reduce the budget deficit (reported on Art and Artifice here) was shot down in flames amidst argument that if the new rule was passed, art collections would flood out of the country and owners would refuse to lend to exhibitions. 

 

This month the Art Media Agency (AMA) reports that the French opposition party have presented a draft law intended to have the opposite effect - to encourage French tax payers to invest in art. If passed, the law would create a tax credit for individuals who purchase “artefacts, collector's items, and antiques, within an annual limit of €1000, and a maximum of 80% of the total price paid offered” - so that the maximum tax credit per person per year would be €800.



Not much in there for under  €1000



However, it's not all goods news. AMA reports that in order to make up the revenue shortfall created by the tax credit, "those behind the law proposed an increase on the tax applicable to the sale of precious metals, jewellery, artefacts, and antiques".