A ban on investing in art within SMSFs could cost the Australian primary art market an estimated $100million in sales each year.
Art galleries report that 15-20% of sales each year are to SMSFs.
Removal of these sales would cause severe damage to the Australian art market, impact on the livelihood of visual artists, and lead to job losses and business failures within the art industry.
Indigenous artists, and indigenous arts communities, would be particularly hard hit, because of the high extent of financial support they receive currently through investment by SMSFs.
There would be a knock-on effect across the whole art economy, affecting art suppliers, carriers, framers, publishers, gallerists and auction houses.
Requiring SMSFs to divest their art investments over the next ten years would cause a flood of investment art on the market, creating a damaging distortion of the market.
The commercial art market is already suffering from the effects of the Global Financial Crisis, and is subject to additional uncertainty from new Resale Royalty Scheme.
