The double taxation issue is now the red-hot topic in Kollywood circles, as it is not going to help Tamil cinema's financial growth in anyway. Also, it doesn't follow the rule of 'One Nation; One Tax.'
As a result, Tamil Film Producers Council, under the leadership of Vishal, along with other associations had an important meeting and decided not to screen any new films from 6th October (Friday). On that note, the Producers Guild of India, have lent their support to Vishal's decision against the decision of the Tamil Nadu Government to impose Local Body Entertainment Tax on cinema tickets. They have also stated that the cinema multiplexes functioning in Chennai will discontinue screening films, until a concrete positive decision is attained.
As per the statement issued by the Producers Guild of India, they have mentioned their two important points, which are:
1. Local Bodies Entertainment Tax (LBET) should not be imposed over and above GST.
2. There should not be differential rates of taxes on different languages (Tamil and non-Tamil films).
Stay tuned to this space and we will update you more on this issue.
We had reported earlier today that, apart from the GST, there has been a proposal to add an additional 10 percent Entertainment tax for Tamil movies. This could prove to be detrimental for theatre owners and the film family in general. Following this, actor Vishal had called the press and media to address them and discuss regarding this proposal. At the meet, TFPC President Vishal said:
“We don’t know how we are going to handle this new tax burden (GST+Entertainment Tax). We are calling for an urgent meeting regarding this. We had held many rounds of meetings among the government officials, requesting them to waive off the local tax like many other states. Tamil cinema is not in a very profitable state. Not every film runs like Baahubali. We had also asked the government for a 100 % online computer ticketing but there is no clarity till now. I am not talking as a TFPC president here but as a producer. If the government promises to eradicate piracy completely, we are ready to pay 10% entertainment tax. We will contact the ministry and put forward our requests again."