In contrast to Switzerland, Germany has a dedicated artists' social insurance scheme, which is fed by levies from event organizers, among other things. However, income has fallen sharply and politicians are only half-heartedly committed to artists' social security.
At the beginning of June, the Bundestag Committee for Culture and Media, with the votes of the governing coalition, deleted an important passage for the continued existence of the Artists' Social Security Fund from the government draft on the "Reorganization of the federal accident insurance funds, amendment of the Social Court Act and amendment of other laws".
The DTKV has therefore launched an e-petition to the German Bundestag to reinstate this point. It wants to legally oblige the German Pension Insurance to check whether companies that employ artists have complied with their tax obligations as part of their company audits - at least every four years.
Artists' social insurance (KSV) is part of the statutory social insurance system. It obliges freelance artists and publicists to take out statutory health, long-term care and pension insurance.
Half of the funding requirement is covered by contributions from the insured. The other half of the contribution is paid by taxpayers via a federal subsidy and the "exploiters" of artistic services in the form of an artists' social security contribution, which amounted to 3.9 % of all fees paid to a self-employed artist or publicist in 2012. The contribution rate rose to 4.1 % in 2013. Further and more substantial increases are to be expected in subsequent years.
However, the existence of the Künstlersozialkasse (KSK) is at risk, as fewer and fewer companies and institutions are fulfilling their obligation to pay contributions, writes the DTKV.
