Swedish Artists' National Organization (KRO) calls for tax incentives for private investments in art

STOCKHOLM. The Art Newspaper has reported that Sweden's KRO has called for tax incentives to encourage private investments in art. The organization is banking on the leader of the country's opposition party to back their proposal and push it forward to come into fruition but as Professor Emma Stenström is quoted as saying, above all the proposal opens the debate regarding funding of the arts. The UK recently engaged in a similar debate as the government announced a 30% cut in public funding last October but failed to accompany such cut with much-needed tax reforms to incentivize private donations. The highly anticipated tax incentives eventually did arrive and were announced last month. Perhaps a trend will develop throughout Europe away from the traditional European model of public funding towards the American model premised on private funding, the cornerstone of which are tax incentives.