FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jefferson City, MO, March 10, 2025 —Today, Missouri Citizens for the Arts (MCA) requests that the Governor and Legislature invest in the arts by allocating $12 million to the Missouri Arts Council Trust Fund. This would be a $1.9 million increase to fund new and existing programs at the Missouri Arts Council. This amount will require no increase in taxes but instead allocates funds already collected from non-Missouri residents by the “Athletes and Entertainers Tax.”
As required by statute (Section 143.183 RSMo), sixty percent (60%) of the Non-Resident Athletes and Entertainers Tax (A&E Tax) should be allocated to the Missouri Arts Council Trust Fund. The A&E tax, which is paid by professional athletes and entertainers when they play or perform in Missouri, has been collected since 1994. But it has never been distributed as promised. Beginning in FY26, this earmarked revenue stream should not be used to cover other unrelated state expenses, but rather used to support arts and culture for all Missouri citizens.
To be clear, even an increase of $1.9 million from the A&E Tax will still not achieve the 60% allocation mandated by the law; but MCA believes it will help fund Missouri creativity and culture during this time of unprecedented government cuts.
”The Athletes and Entertainers Tax has never reached our Missouri creatives as passed by the General Assembly in 1994, so we are merely asking for a more fair distribution of taxes collected from non-residents,” said MCA Government Affairs Consultant Kyna Iman. “While we ultimately hope for a full restitution of 60% from the tax, we welcome this reasonable increase for 2025. In addition to this allocation, MCA serves to remind our 197 state legislators that for every one dollar invested in the arts, more than eight dollars are returned to the Missouri economy. Investing in Missouri creativity just makes sense.”
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For more than 30 years, Missouri Citizens for the Arts has provided a presence for Missouri’s arts industry at the state Capitol. MCA was incorporated in 1980 as a 501(c)4, and the MCA-Education Fund was incorporated in 1982 as a 501(c)3. Both statewide organizations work to promote the whole of Missouri’s arts industry to the public and private sectors and are non-partisan and not-for-profit.