“Money is a shy deer – if a party in Austria constantly talks about new taxes, many investors, but also art lovers and art collectors, will think thrice whether they want to invest anything more in our country,” Criticism of a well-known entrepreneur, who does not actually view the SPÖ negatively, the new tax ideas of the SPÖ federal party chairman.
In fact, Andreas Bübler (SPO)’s constant talk about new taxes in Austria, a country with record tax rates, is already causing considerable irritation at the management level of large companies – and now our country is also at risk of a return to art. of sponsors and art collectors, who certainly also finance many (not exactly right-wing) young artists: as the Standard currently reports, the SPO’s “millionaires tax” model aims to collect money from all those art lovers. refers to those who have acquired ownership of some valuable works of art or an entire collection.
According to the standard, the allowance of one million euros should ensure that only really rich people will be affected; Household goods will be free from taxation. The SPO said that in the definition, whether art and antiques are considered household goods depends less on size than value: “ordinary paintings” were not included, as opposed to “those considered investments”.
According to SPO schemes, the insurance value must serve as the basis for valuation: if total assets range from one to ten million euros, a tax rate of 0.5 percent will apply, and from ten to 50 million euros a tax rate of one percent. Will apply. So for art worth 1.5 million euros, which has already been taxed upon purchase, an additional 7,500 euros of tax must be paid.
Discussions and court cases about the real value of a work of art are likely to significantly exceed the Republic’s expected income under the SPÖ tax model. This is also dramatic: if this art tax is implemented, there will surely be an exodus of the patron and collector class to Switzerland, Liechtenstein or other countries.
