Sunday, April 22, 2012
Taxes: I don’t Think It Means What You Think It Means
2AMt: I get it. Taxes are a necessary part of civic life. But what some of our civic officials don’t seem to always get is that taxes don’t always guarantee the revenue they’re hoping to make. Where is all this coming from? Well, as of Friday afternoon an urgent call went out to California theatre artists.
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3 comments:
It is astounding that a competent elected official would propose a tax on theatre tickets and only theatre tickets, particularly when other forms of entertainment such as sporting events and concerts are both more profitable and have a larger audience. A ticket tax would certainly affect these industries, but less so than it would affect theatre. An enormous variety of people attend sporting events and concerts, as they have none of the intellectual elitist associations that burden the theatre world. Theatregoers are less likely to fork out exorbitant amounts of money on tickets, as they don’t always know what they are paying for. Someone going to a baseball game knows that they are getting just that: a baseball game. But a title and short description of a play often do little to explain what it is actually about. If the cost for theatre is raised then customers will likely choose to put their money elsewhere. After all, would you rather spend money on a venture that you know you will enjoy? Or on something that could end up being terrible.
I always find it interesting how elected officials never actually think about the fact that humans have the ability to react to their environment, and can and will change how they live, and particularly how they spend money. While it sounds like things will go well on paper, paper never takes into account people's reactions to having to spend more to do what they've always done. It happens time and time again and I wonder if elected officials are ever going to realize that this sort of thing usually results in people changing their behaviors, whether it be not going out, moving out of state or not buying theatre tickets, rather that the increase in revenue they expect.
This is silly. I would be super okay with an "entertainment tax" for all sorts of tickets for anything - but singling out theatre is weird. Especially since the whole world complains about money for the arts - why are we imposing ticket sales now. If any state would be pro theatrical revenue supporters i would assume Cali would be it. Regardless - I hope this doesnt pass, and if it does - I just wont go see a play in California. Because people adapt, just like the article says we do.
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