Tax breather possible for cash-strapped artists

ARTS and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa wants artists and performers to benefit from a breather in terms of their finances, and proposes asking the Davis Tax Committee to offer tax incentives to artists.

Mthethwa told journalists in Parliament yesterday, during a briefing on his budget vote, his department would meet the Davis Tax Committee in due course and deliberate on this matter.

The finance minister of the time, Pravin Gordhan, appointed the committee, headed by Judge Dennis Davis, in July 2013 to review the tax system in the country.

The acting director-general of the department, Vuyo Jack, said they wanted the Davis Tax Committee to look at how it could give incentives for receiving things like donations.

Meanwhile, it has been suggested by some parties in Parliament that big firms and some wealthy individuals take their profits out of the country to avoid paying taxes that would benefit the state. Parties want the state to stop the practice of profit shifting.

Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture Rejoice Mabudhafasi also told the media they were working on getting South Africans to work again, and fight xenophobia.

She said it was the criminal element that had taken the opportunity to attack foreigners last month. The situation seemed to have stabilised and those in the camps, after fleeing their areas, wanted to go back to their homes.

Mthethwa said they had also roped in artists to highlight the problem of xenophobia. He said their social cohesion programme, which had been in place for some time now, was dealing with all intolerances including xenophobic violence.

He said in the past year they had held 40 meetings with communities across the country to talk about respecting rights, practices and cultures.