D.C. Mayor Proposes Ticket Tax on Arts Institutions

Ruth McCambridge

May 10, 2011

May 9, 2011; Source: Washington Post | In yet one more nonprofit related strategy for tax revenue development by local government, Mayor Vincent Gray of Washington, D.C., is proposing a 6 percent tax on tickets to local arts institutions. Those institutions argue that the tax will have the effect of driving patrons away not just from them but from the restaurants and other businesses that benefit from the arts groups presence. Petitions are being circulated online to dissuade the city from this measure. Federal institutions will, of course, be exempt from the measure.—Ruth McCambridge

About the author

Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: Policies and Laws Tax Policy

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