Ghanaian comedian DKB wants companies that sponsor culture and arts activities to be given tax rebates.
Citing some states in Nigeria as examples, the comedian said this will encourage more people to invest in the showbiz industry.
While proffering suggestions to how to make the comedy industry more viable in an interview with Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, DKB noted that a policy that gives tax holidays to sponsors of showbiz activities, will help improve the sector.
“It’s a bill I will present to parliament, possibly though a very good MP who understand creative arts. A couple of states in Nigeria have this tax rebate concept when your corporate social responsibility does not only involve buying Jollof and giving them o poor people on the streets but also sponsoring creative arts.
So you sponsor creative arts, at the end of the year when you are filing your tax returns you get a tax rebate,” he noted.
DKB’s call comes on the back of various complaints by creative arts industry people about paying taxes on their various activities.
While the creatives acknowledge that they are obliged to pay their taxes for the building of the nation, they also assert that the struggling nature of the arts industry makes it difficult for them to break even, let alone pay their taxes.
For most event organisers in the arts, getting sponsorship alone is an arduous task. A situation that has made it impossible for them to run their various programmes.
Creatives including comedians OB Amponsah and Lekzy DeComic and the team lead for ImageBureau, George Quaye, have called on the government to find more convenient ways of incorporating arts related events into the tax net.
In an interview with Kofi Atta Kakra Kusi, Deputy Head of Corporate Affairs at the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) on Showbiz A-Z a few weeks ago, the GTA and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) are planning on having a stakeholder engagement to address this issue for players of the cultural and creative industries.
In Ghana, most creatives also hold their individual events apart from the major ones organised by event companies.
DKB is known for his New Year Comedy Show, musicians like Stonebwoy, Sarkodie, Samini, Kojo Antwi, Diana Hamilton, Celestine Donkor, Wendy Shay, among others also have their personal events.
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