Say a renowned artist wants to donate a work of art to a public art museum to fulfill a personal wish or desire, and say that work is worth around NT$10 million. That person will have to declare it on their taxes the following year, and will only be exempt from paying taxes on NT$6 million of the total NT$10 million while still having to pay taxes on 20 percent of the remaining NT$4 million. In other words, donating such a painting to the nation does not keep one from having to pay income taxes on NT$800,000 to the government. This phenomenon is happening right now and makes absolutely no sense.
Word has it that the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KMFA) is facing a lack of funding to expand its collection. The museum was also allegedly unaware that most of the famous artists and their family members donating art to the museum were being forced to pay taxes on the market value of the works they donated to the museum. In an attempt to deal with the issue, Beatrice Hsieh, director of the KMFA, says that she is in the process of communicating with the tax authorities and hopes to find a reasonable solution to the problem to avoid turning artists and their families off from giving donations to museums.
But which artists are making donations and what is the value of the works they are donating? Hsieh did not divulge the precise value of the works donated to her museum, but says aside from working hard to find ways to solve each individual case, she hopes that the central government will establish clearer regulations or at least provide a formal letter explaining the situation to art museums that have detailed rules for accepting works into their collections and careful systems for appraisals. Not doing so would deter artists and collectors from donating art to public art museums in the future, she says.
Photo: Sung Chih-hsiung, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者宋志雄
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
如果一個資深藝術家為完成心願，捐了一部作品給公立美術館，估價約新台幣一千萬元，那麼，他明年報稅時，必須先申報所得共一千萬，其中，可扣抵六百萬捐贈的抵稅額度，剩下四百萬必須以百分之二十報稅，可能他必須申報八十萬的所得稅。也就是說，他一方面捐一千萬的畫給國家，另一方面卻必須為此再繳八十萬給政府，有這種道理嗎？但，這件事發生了！
外傳高雄市立美術館因典藏經費太低，多數接受資深藝術家或其家屬的捐贈，沒想到藝術家在報稅時發現自己竟然必須為了捐出的作品市價，另外再繳稅給政府。對此，高美館館長謝佩霓坦承，最近確實正為此積極與稅務機關溝通中，希望能找出合理的解決方法，不要因此造成寒蟬效應。
不過，究竟是哪些藝術家？捐出多少金額的藝術品？謝佩霓並未透露，只表示，除將積極針對個案尋求解決之道外，也希望日後中央政府能針對具有嚴謹的典藏辦法與鑑價機制的美術館，定訂出相關的行政命令或解釋函，否則恐怕日後會影響藝術家或收藏家捐贈藝術品給公立美術館的意願。
（自由時報記者凌美雪）
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