"If you win at Randwick, that's not taxed. If you win the Miles Franklin, that's taxed. And that's Australia still." David Marr, ASA National Writers' Congress 2015
According to the ASA’s Survey 2021, 81% of respondents are earning less than $15,000 per annum. In 2022, a Macquarie University survey revealed that the average income earned by Australian authors from their creative work is just $18,200 per annum.
Even many of our award-winning authors find it almost impossible to make a living wage from their creative practice. In 2014, Australian author Richard Flanagan revealed that he had been contemplating working in a Tasmanian mine after completing his prize-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North, such was his financial situation at that time. Before Melissa Lucashenko won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2019, she was considering going back to her old gig: driving for Uber. In her acceptance speech at The Stella Prize 2022, Evelyn Araleun, a published author working two jobs, said she “was about as broke as I’d ever been” and spoke of the precarious nature of writing careers.
Authors and illustrators often rely on money from literary prizes and grants to buy time away from their "day-jobs" to produce creative work. However, despite the clear research that shows authors struggle to earn a living wage, literary awards, prizes and grants are subject to personal income tax. The result is that the value of these prizes is significantly decreased.
The ASA has made repeated submissions to government arguing that tax relief is required for Australian writers and illustrators, who compete with the entire English-speaking world and the global publishing powerhouses of the UK and US, where economies of scale mean book production costs are lower.
Tax relief on both literary prizes and government grants would represent additional support of Australian authors, while being a negligible additional cost to the government.
The ASA is lobbying government to extend the tax-free status enjoyed by recipients of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards to all major literary awards in Australia, including:
The total tax on these combined awards each year represents an infinitesimally small amount for the government but would constitute a meaningful sum for individual authors.
We are also lobbying for tax-free government grants and fellowships for authors. There is precedent for the Federal Government declaring support grants as non-assessable, non-exempt (NANE) income, such as bushfire disaster recovery allowances and COVID relief payments. We have argued that grants for low-income authors, on a means tested basis, ought to be declared as NANE income, as part of underpinning a healthy infrastructure for literary arts.
Consider writing to your local MP and Senator about the importance of tax-free grants and prizes for authors. Let them know what tax-free literary prizes and grants would mean for you in your professional practice as an author or illustrator. Invite them to speak with you or the ASA further on the issue. Ask them to take action by introducing tax-free literary prizes and grants into their party's arts policy.
And, if you haven't already, consider joining the ASA. The ASA's lobbying efforts in Canberra would not be possible without our members' support. The more voters we can show we represent, the clearer our voice will be heard by the politicians with the power to make change.
Alternatively, if you're already a member or prefer to contribute without joining the ASA, you can donate to our Endowment Fund. Donations to the Endowment Fund go directly towards supporting the ASA to lobby and campaign for the rights and professional interests of authors and illustrators.
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