WASHINGTON (AP) — Arts groups in Washington are fighting a proposed 6 percent tax on tickets in Mayor Vincent Gray’s budget for 2012.
Groups ranging from Arena Stage and the Helen Hayes Awards to Cultural Tourism D.C. are e-mailing their supporters and circulating an online petition to oppose the tax on live performances and museums.
The arts groups say they will lose audience members and revenue with an added tax on tickets. They say it will have a ripple effect on other businesses, such as restaurants.
They say the city’s budget should not be balanced on the backs of its nonprofit arts groups.
Federal institutions, such as the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institution’s theaters would be exempt.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
