Philadelphia is a town known for its scrappy sports teams and its passionate fans. We’ve collectively cheered our world champion Phillies and wrung our hands over last minute Eagles’ losses. We’ve booed the drafting of Donovan McNabb, cheered Brad Lidge, mourned our beloved Harry Kalas and thrown snowballs at Santa. We’ve stood along Kelly Drive and screamed for half-marathoner Ryan Hall and cyclist George Hincapie and endeavored to catch a glimpse of Bill Cosby at the Penn Relays.
It’s rare that the worlds of sports and art collide in Philly in any kind of remarkable way. Until last month, the biggest challenge as between the two was figuring out where to put the infamous Rocky statue: it’s not quite art but reportedly, art museum attendance plummeted when the statue was moved to the sports complex. (It’s now back home at the museum.)
But that was before Harrisburg got involved. The state budget deal, which allowed Philadelphia to increase its sales tax by a penny in an effort to keep the city going, has one teensy little provision that’s getting quite a bit of press: an extension of the state sales tax to cultural performances and venues. Cultural performances and venues applies to the arts and music – but not to sports or movies. So yes to taxing the Cezanne exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, no to taxing “Zombieland” at the cinema. Hmm.
The deal would call for the creation of a special new fund for cultural institutions and the arts, including museums, orchestras, dance venues, theaters and zoos, previously budgeted as part of the general fund. Money from the general fund to the arts has already been cut due to budgetary restrictions and some venues, like historical museums and sites, have seen their budgets eliminated.
The idea is that *some percentage* of the the new tax (lawmakers have been silent as to the exact amount) would be used to establish the fund – it’s a bit unclear where the rest of the money would go. State Republicans, who had previously opposed new taxes, insisted on the tax expansion in reaction to revenue shortfalls. Supporters of the arts looked to Gov. Rendell (D) for help, but he suggested that tax increases were inevitable, with his spokesman claiming “we cannot do a budget without pain.”
In a cash strapped year, with revenues down, cuts are to be expected. Many in the City, myself included, admitted that they would prefer to see an expansion of the sales tax to save the arts over cutting other services, like police. But why not movies and sporting events?
One city resident that I spoke with suggested that it felt like “rural Pennsylvania’s chance to thumb its nose at the City” since a majority of the tax would be created and spent in Philadelphia. An interesting take, for sure, but not quite accurate. The tax would apply across the board to arts and cultural venues in the state. It would not just affect the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Ballet but also the Elmwood Zoo and the Michener Art Museum. It would not, however, affect the Eagles or the Steelers. You have to wonder why not.
Groups across the state have been working to scale back the tax expansion with varying amounts of luck. There have been, at times, rumors that the tax may now exclude nonprofits but include for profits; that zoos and museums may be excluded; that concerts at stadiums may be included but those at an actual hall may not… Rumors, all, and nothing substantiated. In fact, at this point, we’re not at all quite sure what will come out of any compromise bill.
Of course, it’s worth noting that our neighbor to the north, New York, decided not to tack on an additional tax for tickets after those who worked in the arts noted the domino effect that the tax might have. Reduced ticket sales means fewer customers for restaurants, hotels and retail shops. Fewer customers means lost revenue – lost revenue means layoffs. Layoffs mean less wage and income taxes. You get the picture.
It’s easy to think that tax cuts – and tax increases – happen in a vacuum but they don’t. Taxes are an integral part of our day to day lives. How we choose to prioritize those taxes, I think, says a lot about us.
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