Tax phones and tablets to fund the arts, say stars

Smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices should be taxed in order to set up a fund for the arts, leading creative figures have said.

In a letter to The Times, more than 100 signatories, including actresses Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton and Celia Imrie, called for a levy of between one to three per cent on devices that “store and download creative content”.

They argue that the so-called Smart Fund would compensate artists for lost royalties when their work is downloaded and stored by users, such as when a painting is saved as a phone wallpaper or a film is streamed illegally on a laptop.

The campaign is being led by the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), which says the levy would bring the UK into line with 44 4 countries with similar laws.

However, industry body Tech UK said it sounded like a “new tax” on consumers.

A spokeswoman said: “It is an arbitrary tax on consumers that is hugely bureaucratic to manage, and with no transparency on how funds are disbursed and spent”.

She added: “Shoppers buying a new phone or laptop might have a lot of questions about why they should have to pay such additional charges, when h th they already l d pay a significant amount of VAT.”

Other signatories to the letter included Bergerac and Midsomer Murders star John Nettles, Chocolat author Joanne Harris, and Sgt Pepper’s artist Sir Peter Blake.

Would you be happy to pay more for devices in order to fund the arts? Let us know: editor@ computeractive.co.uk