Features
Dutch Event Pros Concerned About Sales Tax Increase
The Dutch cabinet announced plans to increase the sales tax (VAT) charged on leisure activities from 9% to 21% starting 2026. The country’s promoters association VNPF, and the association of event organizers VVEM have voiced concerns.
The Vereniging Nederlandse Poppodia en Festivals (VNPF) published a statement that is was “deeply concerned about the consequences of the abolition of the reduced VAT rate on tickets in the live music sector announced in the new coalition agreement.”
A VAT rate increase – more than twice what it is now – for concert and festival tickets would significantly affect the earnings of Dutch live professionals.
See: Pollstar’s Inaugural Dutch Focus 2024
“A healthy cultural sector is essential to our economy, as cultural visits generate additional spending, including outside the cultural sector,” the VNPF statement translates.
It goes on to point out that visitors will have to bear the brunt of this proposed measure, hinting at inevitable ticket price increases, which could affect the accessibility of pop culture in the Netherlands, “excluding a wide audience from cultural events.”
This, in turn, would make the Netherlands less attractive to (international) artists, which would further impacts business negatively.
Newcomers will have a particularly hard time in this climate.
The VNPF further points out that the tax increase would create uncertainty around ticket sales, “leading to less investment in a sector that has already been hit disproportionately hard in recent years. The jobs of over a hundred thousand people working in this industry are also threatened.”
Last but not least, a VAT increase would make the Dutch live music sector less competitive with respect to neighboring countries where the rates are lower. Venues and festivals would lose their content to surrounding countries, with all the financial consequences this entails. “This policy puts the Dutch globally leading live sector at a great disadvantage,” the statement concludes.