20 crore loss! That’s how much theaters owners are losing per day due to the strike, courtesy GST

The Tamil film industry is currently facing a crisis as the government has imposed double taxation under the GST regime. Along with the newly-introduced 28%  Goods and service tax, the government has issued a 30% local entertainment tax as well amounting to a whopping 58% tax whichc ironically the defeats the purpose of this new reform. Theaters haven’t taken it lying down, since Monday 1000 cinema halls have been shut as a sign of protest. It’s been three days and the situation has remained status quo. This is the longest period cinema halls have remained shut. Needless to say it is a huge loss to the industry. We lose around 20 crore a day due to the strike reveals Abirami Ramanathan, President of the Tamil Nadu Theater Owners Association.”The tax rate on tickets is 58 percent, the highest in the country. It is a burden on movie-goers and defeats the objective of the new tax regime.” he further added as per a report on NDTV. Also Read: Tamil Nadu government increases cap on ticket prices, courtesy GST

Quite a few celebs have reacted to the situation. Just this morning, Rajinikanth took social media to urge the government to hear out their plea as lots of people’s livelihood depends on it. Only yesterday Kamal Haasan blasted the state for deliberately trying to create a difficult situation for filmmaking in Kollywood. He also went on to state that Tamil Nadu was the only one that didn’t encourage making films. There are further tortures and systemic corruption that the film industry has to endure under this regime,” the actor stated. Also Read: Rajinikanth reacts to the double taxation issued by the Tamil Nadu government – check tweet

This kind of tax system would in fact encourage movie-goers to download illegally. There would no end to piracy which is another issue the Tamil Nadu industry has fight out on a daily basis.

As per sources, the government has reportedly agreed to increase the cap on ticket prices. Discussions regarding the additional entertainment tax are still on going.