Netflix’s The Crown actress Olivia Colman is leading an effort by UK entertainers for a “gadget tax” to support the arts industry.
The actors, artists, and authors argue the addition of a special levy of between one and three percent to the sale of electronic devices could be diverted to the aid of those “struggling in the creative fields” due to the impact of the coronavirus.
Gilane Tawadros, chief executive of the Design And Artists Copyright Society (DACS), one of the groups backing the Smart Fund, said:
Working with the tech industry and innovators in this sector, we want to support creators and performers, to rebuild and enable the UK’s world leading cultural heritage, tourism and creative industries and contribute to its soft power and international standing.
The arts provide sustenance to the engine room of cultural regeneration, recovery and renewal for the whole country.
The tax would be applied to any device that can be used to download and store “creative content,” so would apply to iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
When the money is collected, organisers of the Smart Fund say it would be paid forward into a central reserve before being dispersed amongst needy content creators.
They say the money would be used to “fairly reward creators and performers in making a living from their content.”
The call was made in a letter to the Times, with a number of well-known signatories, including Colman, joining Sir Frank Bowling, Imelda Staunton, Rachel Whiteread, John Nettles, Joanne Harris, and Yinka Shonibare, BBC News reports.
The arts industry has been hit hard by coronavirus.
It is worth £10.8bn a year to the UK economy, but the epidemic has shuttered venues, cancelled events, and left thousands of jobs at risk.
The call for special treatment for entertainers during the age of coronavirus is not new.
As Breitbart News reported, British actress Joanna Lumley last December said people who work in the arts are “brave” and “not moaners… because they’re used to knock-backs all the time.”
The 74-year-old added 2020 had “pushed people into the most dreadful situations” as she pleaded for financial support for show business people in desperate need.
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