Proposition 54K2205

Projet de loi portant sur l'exonération de revenus investis dans une convention-cadre destinée à la production d'une oeuvre scénique.

General information ¶

Submitted by

MR Swedish coalition

Submission date

Dec. 2, 2016

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

performing arts tax law tax on income investment corporation tax tax-free allowance

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI Open Vld N-VA LDD MR PP

Abstained from voting

Vooruit ∉ PVDA | PTB VB

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Discussion ¶

Dec. 21, 2016 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr Luk Van Biesen, rapporteur, refers to his written report.

Mr. Speaker, we are preparing to vote on this bill that will extend the tax shelter mechanism. This project has demonstrated its interest and effectiveness in supporting the production and creation of audiovisual works, more specifically in the film industry. The aim here is to be able to extend it to the arts of the stage.

We look forward to this extension. We believe it is important to be able to irrigate the culture sector through private financing that would then find support through tax.

Of course, we recall that, as far as we are concerned, culture must first be financed by public policies and in a completely autonomous manner. It is a choice of society than to finance culture. It is essential to be able to provide cultural policies with adequate resources. I will not teach you anything: it is now and for some time already a competence of the federal entities.

If we can support the approach, it is of course that we will remain attentive to the budget impacts. This can be done with some budget control. It will therefore be important to monitor the measure in its implementation. Of course, while avoiding excessive bureaucracy, but at the same time, with sufficient and appropriate formalism, it will also be necessary to ensure that the support goes where it is necessary and, above all, in accordance with the legal prescriptions. We should be careful not to start funding projects that should not be.

We have asked you a number of questions, Mr. Minister, in the Finance Committee, questions to which you have answered. In short, all this seems to be going in the right direction. We will support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, on the occasion of this debate, like my colleague Laaouej who just spoke, I would like to welcome the government’s initiative for this bill which constitutes, for my group, a real advance. This project aims to extend the tax shelter mechanism to the stage arts from 2017.

This is an issue that my group has been devoting itself to for a long time and on which we had a real willingness to progress. A few months ago, a draft law emanating from the MR group that goes in this direction had also been submitted. So on behalf of my group, I want to express our satisfaction with this positive mechanism for the world of culture.

Unfortunately, even today, cultural enterprises often face revenue difficulties, in particular due to the decrease in Community subsidies. These difficulties and the chronic investment deficit have for too long weakened structures and undermined the development of cultural entrepreneurship. We therefore look forward to the fact that the federal government will address this issue with a concrete tax incentive that will allow companies to invest new resources in the arts of the stage.

This extension is quite wide for recipients. It covers original stage productions, which includes theatre, circus, street theatre, operas, classical music, dance or cabaret, musical comedy, ballet as well as the production of a total show in which the script, the theatrical text, the regie or the scenography are new or involve a reinterpretation. This broad category of productions therefore offers a significant margin of manoeuvre to this sector.

Investments in this area will benefit from a tax exemption of a limited amount of 50%, with a ceiling of 750,000 euros, of taxable reserved profits. It is therefore not a gadget but rather a strong mechanism that is put in place and which will significantly encourage investments in this area. Mr Laaouej has made reference to it.

In this way, this government intends to give a new breath to our stage production. It is important to emphasize this because the purpose of the text is to support also local works, the first representation to take place in Belgium or in another State of the European Economic Area.

Other positive aspects of this new mechanism also deserve to be highlighted. First of all, it allows ASBLs, centers in cultural production, to finance themselves through this tax shelter. This mechanism is sought to be flexible, but also transparent in terms of coverage of expenses.

As evidenced in the explanation, both the costs incurred by the main producer and those incurred by the co-producers are eligible as eligible expenses. In practice, this will allow for the creation of double structures with, alongside the underlying entity, the creation of an ad hoc production company eligible for this purpose to the mechanism. This may prove useful in so far as many productions are the result of ASBL having no interest in transforming into companies or being subject to corporate tax.

Finally, the government has ensured that the provisions on expenditure periods correspond to the realities of the field – which is important – and to the production of the stage works. Thus, the Belgian expenses must be made within a period ending at most 24 months after the signing of the Framework Convention and, at the latest, one month after the premiere of the stage work. This is a balanced measure that gives considerable flexibility in production.

Following the tax shelter for cinematic works set up more than a decade ago under the impulse of Minister Reynders, this new instrument and the mechanisms that are planned demonstrate the ambition of our group for the development of culture which is and must remain a true vector of education, of emancipation of creations, but also of exchanges in our country.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin my speech by reminding the ecologists’ interest in culture in general, in the arts of the stage in particular, and, even more ⁇ , in their most popular declinations.

These are obvious social linking tools. This is part of our cultural identity. In doing so, as I said in the committee, we will support this text, since, for cinema, the tax shelter has shown its interest on both sides of the linguistic border. This appeared notably when we organized, during the previous legislature, hearings in the Finance Committee bringing together the Flemish creators – I think of Stijn Coninx – and French speakers – I can quote the brothers Dardenne or Jaco Van Dormael.

Unlike other tax devices that allow deductions, the tax shelter here allows a real leverage effect. The tax shelter helps to finance a real, cultural activity, which also has economic declines, with the creation of jobs and activities direct and indirect, especially in the accompanying, such as in the horeca sector. We therefore welcome this initiative positively and will sanction this welcome by a positive vote as soon as possible.

Nevertheless, I would like to point out three limitations to exercise, to which we will need to pay attention. The first limit has been cited: the competence of financing culture belongs first and foremost to the Communities. On the one hand, they must be equipped with sufficient resources to carry out their important mission in the fields of education, culture and childcare. It is one of the responsibilities of the federal state to correctly collect the tax, since, through the financing laws, federal entities receive or do not receive resources.

They must also, internally, make choices in favor of culture for all. It is within their parliament, the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the Flemish Parliament, that these debates must take place.

The second element to pay attention to is the cost of the measurement. Like any tax measure, its cost must be controlled. We have seen tax policies shrink and cost very expensive. We have here the example of the movie tax shelter; it seems that costs are controlled and activities are developing on this basis, generating a return effect that can be measured. The example is therefore positive, but it will be worth being vigilant in this matter in the future.

As it will be necessary to be vigilant on this third point: the control and evaluation of the law. It has been seen, as part of the tax shelter on cinema, that some investors used gaps, less precise elements in the law, and that there were deviations in the use of the law, which could create additional costs and questionable assembly. We conducted this assessment work in the Finance Committee, during the previous legislature. It led to a change in the film tax shelter law.

I ask you, from the start of this law, to be attentive to potential deviations and to be able to correct what should be.

Mr. Minister, however, there remains one question that I would like to hear you more specifically than in a committee: the possibility of subsidizing certain festivals starting with this new law on the cultural tax shelter. I think of festivals that are not only places of production of artists sometimes highly paid but who actually have a work of creative and cultural production, such as "Esperanzah!", a festival that takes place at the beginning of August in Floreffe, such as "Namur in May" or Chassepierre, which are two street arts festivals, one in town, the other on the edge of Semois, in a bucolic setting, and that really do an interesting work that deserves direct support from the Communities. Why could they not have access to this tax shelter system?

In response to the question you were asked about whether or not festivals could be accounted for under this new legislation, you had a response that was not unambiguous. You stated, I quote the commission’s report, that: “The question of whether a festival can enter online account is worth considering from case to case.” Yes, but according to what criteria? This discussion should be used to provide more precise criteria. This cannot be done in the customer’s head. Festivals must know a priori whether or not they are eligible for the tax shelter. I cannot answer this question on a case-by-case basis. You must explain to Parliament the criteria that will be used. A criterion can obviously be the own cultural production, the amount of stamps given to artists (reasonable or not), the maintenance of accessibility or if it is true sustainable festivals, which give access to free drinking water and which are ⁇ sensitive to waste management or other, which are the three festivals I have just mentioned.

I would like to use this discussion in plenary to allow you, Mr. Minister, to be more precise on this subject.

Thank you Mr Gilkinet. I have no other registered speakers.

First and foremost, I am pleased that this bill gathers a large majority. I will obviously be careful to ensure that the distribution of authority is respected, as well as with regard to the installation of control mechanisms, in order to avoid abuses.

When it comes to festivals, we will actually study this case by case. Since the bill has already been developed in consultation with the Communities, more specific criteria for festivals will be developed. This will be done as soon as possible.

Mr. Minister, I take note of your answer on the specific question of the eligibility of festivals to this new mechanism. I welcome the fact that you wanted to involve the Communities in the definition of eligibility criteria. You want to do it within a near term. I will ask you again, quickly, on the subject to make sure of it.

I regret, however, that you could not provide further clarification at this stage. You can reiterate to me that if you want a consultation with the Communities, it is not for yourself to decide the criteria to be applied. I give you my credit. I myself cited eligibility criteria related to accessibility, in particular, the need to position yourself in a cultural approach and not only in cultural dissemination.

That is the meaning of this law. I hope you can quickly reach an agreement. In this way, the festival concerned will be able to position itself and find new funding for its activities that are sometimes lacking, despite the quality of what is produced and disseminated.