Around 1,100 cinema halls and multiplexes across Tamil Nadu stopped screening films on Monday with distributors and theatre owners going on an indefinite strike against an additional 30% tax over and above the newly implemented GST. As the goods and services tax (GST), India’s biggest tax reform, was launched on July 1, the state government slipped in a 30% corporation tax on ticket sales. We welcome it,” Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners and Distributors Association president Abhirami Ramanathan said. It subsumed entertainment tax as well, so the Tamil Nadu government rechristened it as corporation tax, asking cinema owners to pay up. While a Rs 100 ticket in the neighbouring states (Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka) costs Rs 118 post-GST, it costs Rs 148 in Tamil Nadu.

Source: Hindustan Times July 03, 2017 11:37 UTC