When we travel with friends to Chicago, we set aside a day for the Art Institute to ogle the breathtaking Impressionist collection. Art adds beauty and wonder to our lives, and enhances our experience of what it means to be human. That's why the Colorado legislature should stay out of it. There are so many bad reasons to support art with taxes that it's hard to list them all. No it isn't.
Art fails on both grounds.
People pay for music, paintings, and literature every day, while others buy beer, cigarettes, and football tickets. And if you think one person's enjoyment of art never affects the experience of others, try to see Da Vinci's portrait of Ginevra de' Benci at the National Gallery during the crowded summer season. Colorado's support for the arts is too low. What the politically savvy art crowd really means here is that not enough people are buying the art these artists want to make, so government should step in. If a businessman tried that, the legislature would send him packing.