The visual arts sector has once again asked the Government this Wednesday to lower the cultural VAT, currently at 21%, as it already demanded in 2024 and in previous years. The manifesto signed by more than a thousand artists and galleries calls for the adoption of a reduced rate for sales of works, as proposed in a 2022 European directive, which other countries in the area have already adopted. “We don’t have time left. We have to transpose the directive. Yes or yes. It is difficult for the Government to justify this wait. We are running out of air. We are suffocating, and not only the galleries, but also the artists and as a consequence a part of cultural creation,” said the spokespersons for eight organizations from different parts of Spain.
In a room at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, where , winner of the National Fine Arts Prize, and have read the document, a representation of the sector has gathered that has been breaking down the consequences for Spain of maintaining the 21% VAT, while France, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium have already lowered it according to Europe’s indication (to 5.5%, 5%, 7% and 8% respectively). “The loss of competitiveness with respect to these countries leads us towards irrelevance,” they have stated.
Spain occupies sixth place in the European art market, according to data provided by the sector, a position that may continue to decline after the recent drop in cultural VAT in Portugal a few days ago from 23% to 6% starting in 2026. “This has been another blow,” was heard at the meeting. An example is worth: Luis Valverde, head of Espacio Mínimo, exhibits the Portuguese artist Ana Vidigal. “I am considering whether to continue working with her because I know that it is cheaper to acquire it in her gallery in France and now also in her country,” he said.
“It is also a discriminatory situation with respect to other creative sectors such as music, performing arts or cinema, which have a reduced rate on the sales of their creations,” they added. “We believe that art is culture. We wonder if the work of artists is not considered essential for society. In the visual arts they always tell us that whoever buys is rich, that does not happen with whoever occupies the seat at the Teatro Real.”
In the same space, even in the same hallway, a buyer who purchases a piece in a French gallery will pay less for the VAT rate than if he wants to purchase a work by the same author in a Spanish one. For this reason, in last March’s edition, at 12:30 on the first day, the Spanish spaces, after being notified by the organization over the public address system, turned off the lights of their stands for a few minutes in protest. “It was a toast to the sun, as other proposed measures may be,” reflected Valverde, who has proposed the closure of these spaces to the public. “We can maintain minimum services, from 12 to 2:00 p.m., by appointment on Saturdays. Thus, until this situation is reversed.”
Pedro Marín, from the Guillermo de Osma gallery, has raised the possibility that these spaces stop lending work to museums and other public institutions, in a room in which he was present, among others, “It is free, invisible and made invisible work,” he said, “that it is the museums that are going to ask the ministries to take notice of the work we do.”
At one point in the debate after the reading of the manifesto, a representative of the Ministry of Culture asked to speak. Ángeles Albert, general director of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts, was among the audience and has heard how the sector accuses the Government of inaction. For years, Ernest Urtasun’s Ministry of Culture has been in favor of reducing VAT, but, as Albert herself has defended the position of this portfolio, it is the Treasury that, they say, is reluctant to make this decision: “Unfortunately, it does not depend on the Ministry. I don’t want the feeling that Culture does nothing. In fact, sometimes we have the feeling that we work against the Treasury.”
The sector assures that there have been months of “silence” in response from the competent ministries. “The time for information has passed, we have already requested and given the data to the Treasury, which assured us that it had a proposal that we have not seen. The Ministry of Culture has to continue putting pressure,” they responded to Albert.
This has not been the forum in which the sector has made any decision about the next steps to take. There has only been one conclusion: “We must do something forceful, to use a term if the word radical scares us.”
