Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
gst

In the entire country, the hot topic is GST– The Goods and Services Tax which has affected, along with everything, the prices of movie tickets too. After the tax revision, film tickets are now in the highest tax slab — 28%; with tickets priced below 100 attracting only 18%.

While a Rs 100 ticket in the neighbouring states would cost Rs 118 post-GST, it would cost Rs 148 in Tamil Nadu, because of the government’s additional 30 percent state tax on the ticket. Due to which, around 1000 cinema theatres across Tamil Nadu cancelled the screening of movies and shut down on Monday 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.

According to a report, Abirami Ramanathan, president of Tamil Film Chamber of Commerce, said, “If we screen movies, we have to pay local body taxes immediately as it came into force from yesterday. We are closing since there is no other way out. We cannot increase prices for big ticket movies. We have requested the government to fix a threshold within which we should be allowed to either increase or cut down ticket prices as per the need. Some 10 lakh families are depended on our sector. If entertainment tax is levied by the state on top of GST, theatre owners will end up paying up to 53 per cent of the ticket rate as the tax.”

This is what filmmakers and actors have to say about this major change:

At an event, actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan said, “I anticipate even stronger protests soon. It is only the Tamil Nadu government that has brought the tax to 30 percent. Filmmaking is deliberately being made difficult in our state. Ironical that this should happen in a state whose chief minister until very recently was a former actress.”

Filmmaker SD Arvinda says, “This move won’t have any impact. At the end of the day, people want entertainment at any cost; it won’t matter even if the tax is 50%. There is no way that restaurants and theatres will stop.”

Producer Tarun Shivappa says, “If the movie is good, it won’t have an effect on the collections.”

Producer Karthik Gowda says, “Apart from a few multiplexes, the ticket prices aren’t going to be much of a concern. Producers and distributors will end up getting a slightly lesser share, but the state has given us a subsidy. Once we pay the taxes and produce a certificate, the State will give us a subsidy based on what we have done.”

Karthik and filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh say, “I read that the GST will benefit farmers directly. Fuel prices will reduce, which will bring down costs of other essential goods. So, it is a good move. We have to respect paying taxes and look at the larger picture.”