Mona Khosh Aghabal is an expert in visual arts and is a major intermediary in large financial transactions.
Mona Khosh Aghabal, an expert in visual arts, mentioned the unfortunate inclusion of artists in the tax process. A few years ago, everyone in the art field was exempt from taxes. However, a law was introduced targeting famous personalities who engage in large transactions, making artists subject to taxation. Disparities exist across different art fields; the amounts involved in music and cinema are incomparable to those in theater and visual arts. Despite the fact that the funds do not circulate evenly across all art sectors, we lost our tax exemption as venues providing artistic services. This decision led to some protests as artistic activities in the visual arts sector are not income-generating and are cost-intensive.
One of the biggest problems for artists and galleries is the emergence of large financial transactions that are not controlled by us or the artists, but by intermediaries. Intermediaries, who lack upper-level oversight, lead to a significant amount of circumvention in this process.
Khosheghbal denied the claim of money laundering in the context of tax exemption for art works, stating that the claim of money laundering in the case of tax-exempt art works is one hundred percent false. Tell this claim to any economist, and they will be surprised. The total financial turnover of visual arts in our country in a year, despite the Tehran auctions and even high-end intermediaries, does not reach a trillion.
