The writer and playwright Felix Mitterer, who is known far beyond the borders of Tyrol, is not prepared to pay the tourist tax that is mandatory for all “entrepreneurs”. He will therefore leave Tyrol next autumn with his wife Agnes, “because tourism should actually pay something for art and not the other way around”.
The otherwise calm and mild-mannered playwright Felix Mitterer is not known for being so angry: “The author of the Piefke saga can’t pay tourist tax, you can’t!” The reason for this striking statement lies in a letter that Mitterer sent in March 2nd 2022 from the tourism office of the federal state of Tyrol. In it, he was asked to provide a “declaration” for 2019 and a sales estimate for 2022 in order to “meet his “mandatory contributions under the Tyrolean Tourism Act”.
It’s not about the amount
It should be noted that Mitterer and his wife Agnes have only been living in Schwaz since the end of May 2021. The Tyrolean author is not concerned with the amount that, according to his own statement, would have been paid to him by the political leadership of the country. But – like many other Tyrolean artists such as the composer Werner Pirchner and the writer Barbara Hundegger – about the fact that “tourism should not impose the tourist tax on artists, but that tourism should levy an art tax”.
For a moment it seemed that Tyrol and the Schwaz district were now the center of the couple’s lives. But that’s not the case – Mitterer has notified his apartment in Schwaz and will be at his Agnes home in Lower or Upper Austria, near their two daughters, from late fall.
The Mitterer case is positive for the tourism department
According to Gerhard Föger, head of the tourism department of the Land, Mitterer has stated in writing that the sales in question have been realized entirely outside Tyrol. He was then informed that the said years were non-contributory and that no prescription would be issued. So the matter was settled positively.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
