The legislature’s Education and Culture Committee completed its preliminary review of most of the Cabinet’s draft bill on the development of the cultural creative industry, agreeing yesterday to issue NT$1 billion (US$30.8 million) in vouchers to students to encourage them to attend performances.
Minister of Cultural Affairs Emile Sheng (盛治仁) said the Council for Cultural Affairs would discuss how to issue the vouchers to elementary, junior and senior high students with the Ministry of Education.
It took the committee eight sessions to complete the review. The bill will be referred to the legislature’s plenary session for a second and third reading next week.
Sheng said he was confident the legislature would pass the draft bill by the end of the current legislative session.
Legislators also agreed yesterday to allow businesses to list purchases and donations of tickets to artistic events to civic groups or schools as part of their tax deductions. The amount of the deduction would be capped at one-tenth of the companies’ annual turnover.
Legislators were unable to reach a consensus on whether to allow every individual to deduct up to NT$12,000 a year from their taxes for art expenditures.
The proposal was submitted by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) as a way of boosting the publishing industry. The Ministry of Finance, however, opposes the proposal, saying that about 74 percent of the population would not benefit from it.
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