Artists in Mexico Can and Do Pay Taxes with Their Art Molly Fosco - Seeker
go to original April 14, 2016

In Mexico, about 700 registered artists pay their income taxes with literal works of art every year as part of the Pago en Especie program. (Seeker Daily)

The program was designed to discourage tax evasion among artists and expand Mexico's art culture.

If you really hate paying taxes it might be time to move to Mexico and become an artist. Artists in Mexico can participate in a unique program called Pago en Especie (Payment in Kind) where they are permitted to pay federal income tax with their own artwork, reports The Atlantic.

The program began in 1957 and has grown to include over 7,000 paintings, sculptures and graphic art in a public collection from well-known artists across Mexico. It's said that the muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros proposed the idea to the secretariat of finance in order to keep his fellow artist friend out of jail for tax evasion. He asked that his friend be allowed to pay his taxes with art instead.

The premise is simple enough: If an artist sells one to five pieces of art per year, he or she donates one piece to the government, and if an artist sells six to eight pieces, he or she donates two to the government, with a cap of six pieces donated per year. The pieces are divided up and put in museums and administrative buildings around the country; some are even sent to international galleries around the world.

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