{"id":1003,"date":"2007-01-26T08:21:58","date_gmt":"2007-01-26T16:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2007\/01\/dont_tell_the_marketing_depart\/"},"modified":"2007-01-26T08:21:58","modified_gmt":"2007-01-26T16:21:58","slug":"dont_tell_the_marketing_depart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/dont_tell_the_marketing_depart.php","title":{"rendered":"Don’t tell the marketing department"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Milwaukee Symphony is trying to make a case to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue that its performances are not<\/i> entertaining<\/a>. That is, they’re asking for a refund of the sales tax they have paid against ticket sales for the past four years, on the grounds that their performances are education<\/i> not entertainment<\/i>, and therefore exempt.<\/p>\n

It’s an interesting end-run around Wisconsin’s lack of a sales tax exemption on nonprofit performing arts tickets, offered by other states including neighbor Minnesota. But the request and now the appeal led to some rather odd interchanges between the symphony’s attorneys and tax officials.<\/p>\n

Tim Schally, the orchestra’s attorney on the case, suggested attending the symphony is more like going to a museum than a basketball game, even comparing the musicians to a utility expense:<\/p>\n


\n“Classical pieces themselves are complex pieces of art,” he said. “Playing the music is like turning the lights on at the art museum.”
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the other side, the Tax Appeals Commission stressed the entertainment and enjoyment of a symphony event in their 79-page ruling:<\/p>\n


\n“While only a small portion of the general population attends classical symphony concerts, for those who do, it is not unreasonable to assume that the concert is an enjoyable, pleasant and relaxing night of entertainment, often combined with other social activities with friends, such as dinners, social gatherings and drinks,” the Appeals Commission ruled. “If concerts were not entertaining, it seems unlikely that so many people would be willing to spend a weekend night or Sunday afternoon to attend.”
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To make the case a bit more shakey, some tax officials claim that even if the symphony won it’s request for around $720,000 plus interest, any refund of past taxes would go to the consumers who purchased the tickets, not the symphony.<\/p>\n

Either way, a tax authority and a symphony arguing about whether performances are enjoyable or not: priceless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Milwaukee Symphony is trying to make a case to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue that its performances are not entertaining. That is, they’re asking for a refund of the sales tax they have paid against ticket sales for the past four years, on the grounds that their performances are education not entertainment, and therefore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}