Artists Resale Rights Levy
Britain's booming contemporary art market may be affected by the new "droit de suite" tax or the artists resale rights levy when it is introduced next year. Artists or their families will receive a percentage of the sale of their work for up to 70 years after his/her death. This make the US market more attractive for sellers of high priced works as they have no such tax.
I can see the positives and negatives of such a tax. Maybe it should be introduced to works under a particular price (eg $500,000). That way the artists that are "hard-up" get the benefit of such a levy and the big super-priced works still get sold in Britain/Europe.
EU levy 'will hand much of Britain's booming art market to the US'
"Supporters of droit de suite say it helps hard-up artists who otherwise lose out on the rising value of their work. But the survey shows that more than 80 per cent of the money paid out goes to descendents of artists, many of whom are already wealthy."
telegraph
