Thursday (4/5) on the Los Angeles Times blog Culture Monster, Mike Boehm reports, “The California Arts Council is in jeopardy of losing its recently won ability to solicit donations via state income tax forms. Beginning last year, filers could donate to the state’s chronically underfunded arts grant-making agency by checking off a box on their tax return, then adding the amount they wanted to contribute to their payment or subtracting it from their refund. The arts council received $164,298 that way during 2011—not a negligible amount for an agency with a budget of only $5.2 million. … But the 2010 legislation that gave the arts council its checkoff box says it will disappear from future tax forms unless it generates at least $250,000 this year, then rises each subsequent year by at least the rate of inflation. The early returns for 2012 are not encouraging. According to data on the Franchise Tax Board’s website, checkoff contributions totaled $25,820 in January and February, down from $26,112 a year ago. To keep its box, the arts council needs at least a 52% increase, not a marginal decline.”
Posted April 6, 2012
