Effective today, July 1, the VAT rate on dance band events, dance clubs, and discotheques will be reduced from 25 to 6 percent. This is a long-awaited change that many event organizers and dance band enthusiasts have been fighting for over the past several years.
The government and the Tidö parties have now implemented the reduction as part of a more equitable tax system for various forms of culture.
”Penalty taxation” is eliminated
The high VAT rate has previously been heavily criticized for putting dance band music at a disadvantage compared to other forms of culture, such as theater, concerts, and opera.
The SD leader Jimmie Åkesson has described the old VAT as a form of punitive taxation.
– The dance band tax is, in practice, a form of punitive taxation from which other cultural forms have been exempt, which has disadvantaged dance bands as well as the part of Swedish culture that dance band music represents. Within the framework of the agreement between the coalition parties, we are now finally ensuring that this unfair tax is consigned to history., Åkesson has said previously.
Great joy among the organizers
There is great excitement among those who organize dance band nights across the country. Bengt-Åke Johnsson, CEO of the Ekebo Festival in Munka-Ljungby, welcomes the change.
– The VAT has been so awful that I don't even know who came up with the idea, but now it's finally gone. It should be the same for all genres, whether it's a concert or a dance performance, ", he tells Dagens Nyheter (DN).
Annette Hansson, which organizes dance band nights outside Uddevalla, is also very happy.
– I think and hope we’ll be able to extend the season, so I’m really excited. I’m so happy because we’ve really been working toward this for a long time—several dance band organizers—and finally we’re getting a response at the government level., she says to DN.
Important for Swedish culture and rural areas
The government emphasizes that dance and dance bands are an important part of Swedish culture and a natural gathering place for people, especially in smaller towns.
– The dance band culture brings people together all across our country, often in smaller towns, says the Minister of Rural Affairs Peter Kullgren (KD).
