Before you don't read this because it's about high end art, apparently Mnuchin and Ivanka are considering an expansion of the 1031 Exchange (usually used for real estate transactions) to art that "appreciates" in value, thereby eliminating the capital gains when the painting is sold.
From my point of view, this is a gift to only the high end galleries and collectors. It leaves small galleries, artists, and people who buy a painting "because they like it" out in the financial cold. Why subsidize the elite galleries and collectors with tax breaks? Is it because Mnuchin's father is a gallery owner and collector?
I don't think these elites, who are very wealthy, should be subsidized with tax payer dollars. The other segment that is being subsidized are the non-profit art organizations who have full time grant specialists to feed the beast.
Meanwhile, small galleries and artists are having a very tough time.
Dealers Secretly Meet With Ivanka Trump at the White House
(Excerpts) So, why not go straight to the top and ask President Trump‘s cabinet to help out? That was the thinking of a group of gallery owners, dealers and collectors who this week made a clandestine trip down to Washington, DC, to meet in the White House with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump, senior advisor to the president. The purpose of the visit? To lobby the art world-friendly Trump-adjacent power figures for relief for galleries suffering from the effects of the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus.
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Sources say that the group included Alberto “Tico” Mugrabi, who at this point is pretty chummy with Trump. Wet Paint revealed in April that he made a visit to Camp David in October to celebrate Ivanka and Jared Kushner’s wedding anniversary, and while there watched football with the commander-in-chief and promised to host a fundraiser alongside his wife, Colby Mugrabi. If you want an art world Trump fan to lead you into the White House, Mugrabi is your guy.
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The spokesperson also clarified that the meeting was “a group of industry leaders that visited Washington, DC, this week lobbying for measures to help kick-start the art economy.” Specifically, sources said, the group was trying to save the gallery business by allowing art to benefit from the 1031 exchange, wherein the proceeds of the sale of an artwork can be used to buy another artwork without capital gains taxes being applied.
Papa Bob Mnuchin is a fellow gallery owner and former client of Pace founder Arne Glimcher, Marc’s father, and Steven Mnuchin is himself a collector who has often appeared at events at the Whitney and the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, and was a once-upon-a-time attendee of the ADAA Art Show.
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/wet-paint-art-dealers-at-white-house-1895405?utm_content=from_&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=US%209:30%20a.m.%20newsletter%20for%207/17/20&utm_term=US%20Daily%20Newsletter%20%5BMORNING%5D