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Abstract

Government support of the arts consists of a familiar direct portion (including the appropriations to such agencies as the National Endowment for the Arts) and a less-well known indirect portion, including what Surrey has called tax expenditures. The tax expenditure that flows through individual deductions of charitable contributions to arts institutions from taxable income is estimated from IRS data and other sources, and is found to have been between $300 million and $380 million in 1975. This figure is over four times as large as appropriations for the National Endowment for the Arts (the principal direct federal aid program) for fiscal 1975. Viewed as a subsidy to the donor, it is found to be highly regressive.

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Indirect Government Aid To the Arts: the Tax Expenditure in Charitable Contributions

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