Belgium’s VAT Shake-Up Risks Creating a Two-Tier Cinema System

From 2026, commercial theatres will face a doubled VAT rate while some small cultural venues remain at 6% — a distinction so vague it threatens to destabilise an already fragile industry.

Belgium’s government has quietly set off a political and cultural firestorm. Under the new Arizona coalition budget, cinemas clearly identified as “cultural venues” — mostly nonprofits, arthouses, an…