Tax Incentives for Cultural Heritage Conservation

Investment tax credits are increasingly viewed as a privileged way of encouraging private responsibility in cultural heritage conservation. However, an overview of the empirical investigations into the effects of tax credits on investment in cultural heritage reveals that research is only at its beginning, and suggests that further inquiry is necessary in order to offer a sound guide to effective tax policy. Within a conceptual framework that relies on the increasingly shared view of cultural heritage as a capital asset, this chapter discusses the main issues that arise when evaluating the welfare consequences of indirect public support to conservation, and reviews the most frequently encountered tax credit mechanisms for private investment in cultural heritage.