Art + Taxes = The Dirty Truth

It's tax season in the United States, and the art market is one of the many ways rich people game the system to save billions of dollars in taxes each year. Here's how it's done.

Thanks to our Grandmaster of the Arts Indianapolis Homes Realty, and all of our patrons, especially Lawrence Abrahamson, Patrick Hanna, M12 Studio, Robert Rupp, and Constance Urist.

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[vlogbrothers]

This is such a good and disturbing video. It's so strange to think that the art market in the U.S. is so heavily subsidized by the U.S. government, not through grants to artists but instead through tax writeoffs to the richest Americans. -John

[m.aburas]

I come from the same country that bought the da Vinci painting, I am the first in my country to get a PhD in contemporary art history, and even before this incident I have been trying to explain this to my fellow artists and my art students. Unfortunately I have been accused of being jealous, ignorant, and paranoid. We are witnessing a boom in the international art market for Saudi artists because of all these Saudi billionaires but unfortunately on a daily basis I see artists quit their style and start to copy the ones that got sold to cater for their taste. I cannot express enough how lonely I feel as a historian, as an artist, and as a women in a place where your thoughts are taken lightly if you are a women with a higher education to discourage you and everyone else from sharing them in public, nevertheless if it threaten the interest of the wealthy. So thank you for putting this video out there, it helps people like me to feel less crazy and less lonely!

[Xenolilly]

My sister just spent a weekend visiting small privately owned art galleries. I was surprised there were so many in a nearby tourist town. She said it cheered her artistic goals to see one doesn't have to become part of the big scale art scene to be successful or appreciated. Perhaps none of their artwork will be used in tax evasion but they are making art that is beautiful and loved.

[saoirseryan]

I'm so happy you made a video on this subject. I love art but the art market makes me pessimistic.

[TheModernInvestor]

Its also the easiest way to launder money between countries, The Chinese have been doing it for 10+ years now because of their restrictions on how much money can leave the country per year. Buy a $100 Million painting, ship it to London, sell it there and open a new bank account. Between buying art and buying property these both help the rich stay rich.

[xdinoify]

what’s bizarre and sad and disappointing is the amount of artwork that was intentionally made to critique and combat the capitalist loops holes art falls into, and the institutions that hold power over art and artwork, that has fallen into the very same traps. it’s so discouraging as an artist and just as a regular human being concerned about empathy that this continues and really, really, will not stop.

[KevinRusso]

One of the best shows YouTube has to offer.

[nzaround]

Thank you thank you for articulating this so clearly! It's a business practice that's closely guarded among the 1% and major financial institutions and it's damn near impossible to break through to see what's actually going on. The idea of all this art sitting in the dark against its whole purpose is definitely nauseating. Keep up the good work!

[iheysema]

I'm really shocked right now I live in Geneva and I wasn't aware that there were so many artworks hiding in our city. I know they are in Geneva because Switzerland is a tax haven but still Geneva can sometimes be so poor in cultural resources... That's a pity

[prisillaspace]

I'll never forget that bumper sticker I saw & read years with the most toys still dies.'

[MarkHatlestad]

Fantastic video that rings close to home to me... Classical musicians who play string instruments are heavily affected by the market of antique instruments inflating the value of all professional level equipment, regardless of the antique instruments functionality. It is common for affluent collectors/dealers to hoarde wonderful instruments kept in storage for decades without being used in hopes of flipping them once they increased enough in value. Many musicians rely on instruments being loaned to them, since they are so far out of reach for a working musician. While this can be a positive relationship, many times it leads to exploitive behavior (particularly to young women), or the instrument being taken away with little to no notice to be given to someone "more promising" or to pay off a financial obligation.

I'm very lucky to have been able to bypass the brunt of this market by playing a less-desirable instrument, but it is a pervasive part of classical music culture that I am extremely dubious of.

[henryorton]

Curiously concerning. I believe a similar market exists for fine musical instruments. For example, none of the best violins in the world are actually owned by musicians because they could never afford them.

[lorenabpv]

halfway through the video i was gonna say i love the shadiness, but i watched everything before commenting (lol) and it's not shady at all, it's wonderfully directly critical and i love it as well <3

[nanspants]

Even if these videos are annoying for you to make, I think they have their place on your channel. I didn't know about this up until I got to university and it's good to look at what is being swept under the rug as well as the work that is presented well above it.

[Mikey-fibb]

So the entire art market is completely inflated and kept afloat by tax deductions. We're giving a small few unfair tax cuts while simultaniously subsudising driving prices out of reach for society and museums whom those very same deductions are meant to benfit? Sounds like art deductions seriously need to be regulated.

[sangoluvsmirokueva]

It really makes me sad how much money talks in the Fine Art world. I have friends who want to put their work in museums and they are either struggling due to how tight-knit the rich social circle is or have become deterred from pursuing their fine art dream because of the shadiness of it all. :/

[avsky]

This is why so many artists mix their shit in with their paint knowing full well it'll inevitably be treated with the same regard.

[mujtabaalam]

When a billionaire auctions their art, they can buy it from themselves via an agent to eliminate any risk of the auction failing.

[maxbeddows]

And if the artist is dead that cuts out the "middle man" of the transactions. That's why artists become famous after their death.

[jedje]

“Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: ‘What does his voice sound like?’ ‘What games does he like best?’ ‘Does he collect butterflies?’ They ask: ‘How old is he?’ ‘How many brothers does he have?’ ‘How much does he weigh?’ ‘How much money does he have?’ Only then do they think they know him. If you tell grown-ups, ‘I saw a beautiful red brick house, with geraniums at the windows and doves at the roof…, ’ they won’t be able to imagine such a house. You have to tell them, ‘I saw a house worth a thousand francs.’ Then they exclaim, ‘What a pretty house!” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince