Songwriters Say Tax Break Is Only Fair

A 70-billion dollar tax bill that includes a break for Nashville songwriters is awaiting the President’s signature. Both houses of Congress passed the tax package earlier this week.The songwriter provision will allow writers to sell their “catalogues” and only pay a capitol gains tax of 15-percent instead of the much higher self-employment tax that can be as much as 40-percent.

Billy Kirsch was one of the first to question the current tax code five years ago. He’s a local songwriter and part of the Nashville Songwriters Association International. Kirsch says that a songwriter’s catalogue is essentially a business entity, and when a writer sells that song collection it makes sense to be taxed like you were selling a business.

“The real upper echelon of song writers who are selling catalogs upwards of a million-plus, you’re talking about a quarter-million dollars in taxes. Again, it’s not that we don’t want to pay taxes but it’s the inequity that the other business you’re paying at a 15-percent rate.”

Advocates for the legislation insist that the 20-million dollar songwriter provision is not a special interest tax break. Nashville songwriters say the break is only fair. The N-S-A-I reports that the average songwriter’s annual income is only 47-hundred dollars.

The tax relief goes into effect January 1.