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Michael J. Lutch
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San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory
Orchestras prepare to confront tax challenges and support programs that demonstrate their public value.
Tracey Brown
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Making the by Heidi Waleson
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n the spring of 2010, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and its executive director, Alan Jordan, found themselves in the middle of an unexpected battle with the Vermont state government. The legislature had passed a bill that would require nonprofits to collect tax on ticket sales. “For the legislators, it was a question of equity and fairness: if people pay sales tax when they go bowling or see movies, then people who see Yo-Yo Ma with the Vermont Symphony should also pay,” Jordan says. “My quick response to the equity and fairness argument is that you can’t
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really compare us with bowling alleys until the bowling alleys start doing education programs in the schools.” The orchestra joined with several other large Vermont nonprofits to strategize about how to counteract the legislation, which was scheduled to go into effect in April 2011, and found some legislators willing to put in a bill for its repeal. Working against that effort was the state’s projected budget shortfall of $150 million, which legislators are eager to close any way they can, and a general perception, demonstrated in the local media coverage, that this debate was a class issue.
“There’s a presumption that people who go to orchestra concerts or the ballet are well off,” Jordan says. “The view is, this is a consumer tax, and other than the small amount of paperwork, it doesn’t have an impact on the organization.” In fact, Jordan points out, the tax very likely would have an effect on contributions to the orchestra, particularly for less-well-to-do subscribers and donors. Collecting information and processing paperwork would add another administrative cost to the orchestra’s operations. The case in Vermont is an example of two national and intersecting trends. As governsymphony
SUMMER 2011