Tax policies for creation

The proliferation of formats, platforms and practices has increased the importance of taxation in the way cultural rights are appropriated and redistributed. Tax policy can therefore serve as an instrument of European and national cultural policy, influencing both the conditions of creation and the public’s access to cultural work.

The resource asks how effective redistribution can be achieved in a digital market. It considers the effects of cross-border activity, consumption-based taxation and the changing ways in which creators are remunerated. The central challenge is to identify measures that support a coherent and competitive market while encouraging European creation and cultural diversity.

In 2024, Forum Avignon and EY organised a study and working groups around the question of which tax framework could best support a Europe of creation. The international research covered 18 countries and developed possible approaches to a common European policy.

Three priorities for cultural taxation

The study organised its analysis around three connected objectives:

• Preserving heritage through measures that recognise the long-term public value of cultural assets.
• Promoting creation by supporting artists, producers and the wider creative ecosystem.
• Accessing culture by considering affordability, participation and fair circulation.

Works in the resource

Event

• 1 April 2025 — #FAbdx session on promoting the cultural and creative sector. Read the account
• 7 July 2024 debate meeting on tax policy for creative Europe, held with EY.

Studies

• Culture and tax in Europe: how harmony can triumph over cacophony, with EY. Read the study
• The way to cultural diversity in tax policies: international survey on tax policies in the cultural sector. Read the survey

Contribution

• European creative economy and the development of tax policy, by Clara-Doïna Schmelck. Read the contribution