While music and cultural event organizers in the country have repeatedly raised the need for a lower tax rate, now the VAT is set to rise even further.

"This price increase will affect us starting in the fall — meaning in mid-September, when the new season begins with all its concerts and upcoming festivals," said Eesti Kontsert communications director Silver Kuusik. "Unfortunately, this VAT hike will already be reflected in the prices of those tickets."

On average, the two percentage point VAT hike will raise ticket prices at Eesti Kontsert by a couple of euros each.

"This limited price increase won't actually cover our costs, because organizing concerts is a very expensive undertaking," Kuusik admitted.

"All prices have gone up, in addition to VAT," he explained. "And classical music, I daresay, is almost never profitable. We certainly cannot cover the costs associated with producing a concert purely through ticket sales."

Live Nation Estonia, one of the country's biggest concert organizers, has already brought Justin Timberlake and Imagine Dragons to Tallinn this summer, and is bringing AC/DC to the Estonian capital next month as well. It, too, acknowledged the international dimension of the tax hike.

"We're not just talking about two [percentage points] here," said Live Nation Estonia director Mart Eensalu. "If we compare ourselves with nearby markets, VAT on concert tickets is 14 percent in Finland, zero in Latvia and 9 percent in Lithuania. Those are much bigger differences."

According to Eensalu, this difference can directly impact whether a major concert will be scheduled in Estonia at all, or whether it will end up heading somewhere else instead.

"If an artist is doing one concert in the region, then it's a question of whether that concert will happen in Estonia, Finland or Latvia," he explained. "We have the Song Festival Grounds, a high-capacity and awesome venue giving us certain advantages — but the current tax environment does not."

The concert organizer chief said the issue comes down to how many events someone will end up buying tickets for.

"The biggest fans will almost always find the money, but for someone who's deciding whether to go or not, what really counts for them in the end is the price," he said.

Several museums across the country are also raising admission prices due to the VAT hike, and as a result, Estonia's annual Museum Card will go up from €65 to €75.

"The price of the Museum Card isn't directly impacted by how many museums it includes, but rather by ticket prices," explained Museum Card program director Anu Viltrop. "Museum budgets are unfortunately very tight, and they're a combination of operational support and self-generated revenue. And that self-generated portion is vital to museums."

Several theaters, including the Estonian Drama Theater, Vanemuine Theater and Tallinn City Theater, have already said they will not be raising their ticket prices this year, opting instead to eat the difference caused by the VAT hike.

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