CHENNAI: Over 1,000 cinema theatres across the State will remain shut indefinitely from Monday to protest the double taxation imposed on them from July 1. Among the theatre owners’ demands are scrapping of the 30 per cent entertainment tax levied by State government and hiking ticket prices, which haven’t been increased in about 10 years.
The decision to down shutters was confirmed at a meeting of representatives of the Tamil Nadu Film Chamber of Commerce, district-level theatre owners associations and the federation of distributors in Chennai on Sunday. The entertainment tax, which is collected by the State government, is meant to be channeled to local bodies.
“The 30 per cent entertainment tax was kept as a secret till Friday evening out of apprehension that we would move court. There was no such tax earlier. As it is in force now, we cannot afford to pay 30 per cent to local bodies as tax in addition to 28 per cent GST. Local bodies have already demanded that the tax be paid by Tuesday,” Abirami Ramanathan, president of the Tamil Nadu Film Chamber of Commerce told the media.
They clarified that their protest was against the entertainment tax and not against GST. The GST Council had fixed the tax rate for movie tickets under two categories - 28 per cent for tickets costing over `100 and 18 per cent for tickets priced below this amount. “This sudden and unprecedented. At the same time, ticket costs have not been hiked for more than 10 years,” explained Ramanathan.