Arts surcharge proposal tabled

A proposed 1% surcharge on arts and entertainment tickets to help fund state grants to the arts was pulled back short of a vote on Tuesday after a hearing in the California state Assembly’s Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media.

Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) requested that his proposal not come to a vote, sensing it wouldn’t succeed without further groundwork to build support and address objections, according to Shannan Velayas, Leno’s press secretary. The measure would have levied a 10-cent charge for each $10 paid for admission to movies, concerts, plays, theme parks, museums and other events.

“This allows it to stay alive and continue the discussion,” Velayas said, adding that Leno aims to submit the bill again next year. The surcharge, Leno has said, would guarantee annual funding of at least $23 million for the California Arts Council, the state arts agency that has seen its budget fall over the past four years from more than $30 million to $3.2 million, lowest in the nation, per capita.

Among the opponents are the California Chamber of Commerce and an association of California movie theater owners, who contend that an admissions tax would hurt business. And Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said last week, through a spokesman, that he “doesn’t believe new taxes are the way to fund the Arts Council.”

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Mike Boehm