Post announcement of GST by the government, around 1060 cinema theatres across Tamil Nadu cancelled the screening of movies and shut down in protest against the imposition of 30 percent of entertainment tax in addition to 28 per cent GST. Under GST, the movie industry will have to pay 58 percent tax that will also increase the rate of the tickets for the audience.
As the strike by theatre owners entered its third day on Wednesday, superstar Rajinikanth urged the government to reconsider its decision as the livelihood of lakhs of people is dependent on the film industry. Rough estimates put the loss to the film industry due to the ongoing strike at Rs 4 crore per day. And the stir has affected the film stars and producers too, as films ready for release this Friday are held up and so is the screening of films released last week.
Rajinikanth took to twitter to appeal the state government to consider the plea to abolish local body tax.
Keeping in mind the livelihood of Lakhs of people in the tamil film industry, I sincerely request the TN GOVT to seriously consider our plea
— Rajinikanth (@rajinikanth) July 4, 2017
The TN government is considering the request made by the film delegations, but a final decision is yet to be taken. The film representatives are hopeful that the government will come out with a solution to the problem.
Abirami Ramanathan, president of Tamil Film Chamber of Commerce, said, “The government will roll back the state tax. We are simply not in a position to run the business. The corporation tax is added to films only and to no other business.”
Tamil actor Kamal Haasan had also issued a statement saying that filmmaking in Tamil Nadu has been made difficult deliberately. He went on to add that except Tamil Nadu, other neighbouring southern states have desisted from levying additional tax on cinema over and above GST.
“In Kerala, the film industry requested the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and he, through his finance minister, quickly announced that Kerala will not be levying anymore taxes on the already beleaguered film business. Karnataka has gone even further to facilitate the well being of the film Industry. Telangana and Andhra are also doing their best for their film industries,” he said.