Journals
Tuesday,Mar 31 2009, 08:28:19 PMTax Time for the Artist:
Possible Tax Deductions for the Visual Artist
by Dr. John Daab CFE, for Fine Art Registry®
Introduction
Visual artists may not know that the steps involved in creating art, the areas used, and the materials and equipment purchased to produce the art are gold nuggets when it comes to tax time. Yes you love your work and are not really concerned about how much you make selling it. A Damien Hirst you are not. Some of your stuff has been sold but not a lot. You have business cards, letterhead and a marketing plan, work with various galleries, make trips to museums, and even have parties focusing on your works. In your effort to sell your art as an artist you may be a business. Indeed, think about what you are going to place on your canvas. At the same time start thinking outside the canvas.
Tuesday,Mar 31 2009, 08:24:15 PMStrategic Litigation Against Public Participatio..
First Amendment Free Speech and Expression under Attack
by Dr. John Daab, Certified Fraud Examiner, for Fine Art Registry®
Introduction
Over the last 30 years, there has been a steady and progressively increasing movement by some individuals, corporations and members of government to unravel, compress, and lessen First Amendment rights of speech, expression, and petition by a mechanism called a Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation lawsuit, otherwise known as a SLAPP.
George Pring and Penelope Canan, the University of Colorado professors who defined the concept of the SLAPP suit and coined the term, note that in such suits the goal is not to win but rather to silence, intimidate, and crush critics into submission via the legal system. New York Supreme Court Judge J. Nicholas Colabela has stated, "...short to a gun to the head, a greater threat to First Amendment expression [than SLAPP] can scarcely be imagined." Pring and Canan argue that such suits for the defendant are costly, time consuming, (at least 40 months), ultimately chill free speech in the future and almost always result in a loss for the plaintiff or originator of the suit. The loss of victory in the suit for the plaintiff is actually a success in that it takes time away from the defendant in being able to promote the criticism challenging the plaintiff.
