Sir, We are writing to express our concern about an unexpected consequence of the proposed legislation affecting the tax regime for foreigners who are resident in the UK and the impact it might have on museums such as Tate.

Many of our collections include works of art that have generously been placed on loan by foreign domiciliaries. Public enjoyment of our museums is greatly enriched by such loans. In our experience, some of these loans eventually translate into outright gifts.

Under the proposed rules a UK resident foreign domiciliary will not be able to bring art into the country without suffering tax. We are concerned that this policy will deter people from lending to UK museums. They will obviously be more inclined to lend art to foreign museums where no question of tax can arise.

We would therefore urge the Government to consider changing the proposals to make it clear that there is no taxable remittance where the art is brought into the UK. Our museums will then continue to operate on the same level playing field as other museums around the world.

Many of our museums, concert halls and theatres owe their present success to the generous contributions made in recent years by foreigners who are resident in the UK.

Paul Myners
Chairman, Tate

Nicholas Serota
Director, Tate

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