Actors' Equity Association Testifies At House Hearing
Actors' Equity Association urged Congress to consider arts and entertainment unions at a House Small Business Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Speaking on behalf of Equity, Sandra Karas, the union's Secretary/Treasurer, spoke of the urgency to pass the Performing Artists Tax Parity Act, a bipartisan bill that updates a portion of the tax code that allows arts workers to deduct career expenses from their taxes. She also spoke about the union's concerns of misclassification of workers in the arts industry, and voiced Equity's support for the PRO Act.
"As we’ve just seen during the pandemic, these are critical basic protections that all workers should have, especially in the arts," she said. "In an industry where competition is keen and there are more workers than jobs, we ensure workers have a voice in their workplace, secure standards and safe working conditions."