Bill Cosby, actor and comedian, cited the comparatively high taxes in Canada as to why he has no tour dates there anytime soon. Asked by a fan on his Twitter account why he isn’t coming to our neighbor to the North, he replied:
It is a commonly held belief that famous performers do not take tax rates into account when deciding where to go on tour. Mr. Cosby proves this to be incorrect. Actors and comedians are normal people like anyone else, and as such are influenced by tax competition. All things equal, areas with lower tax rates will receive more business than those with higher tax rates. This tax competition helps restrain the size of government because politicians realize that jobs and investment can cross borders (or not cross in this case) if they get too greedy and impose high taxes.
This is an important lesson for governments considering raising taxes on non-resident performers. Actors, comedians, and sports stars all might make a lot of money, but they still want to keep that money by avoiding high taxes. While it may seem like an easy source of tax revenue to politicians, it may just end up keeping their constituents from seeing the shows they desire.
