Hitting out at the Tamil Nadu Government over the imposition of 10% entertainment tax on films, Nadigar Sangam General secretary Vishal announced on Sunday that a delegation will be meeting Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami over the issue.
But their plea may fall on deaf years as the state information minister Kadambur Raju has now stated that there are no plans to rollback the tax.
The Tamil Nadu government had issued an order levying entertainment tax on the exhibition of movies in theatres. Under the order, Chennai will see 10 per cent tax levied on Tamil language movies and 20 per cent tax on movies in other languages, over and above the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Following protests and a refusal from the Producers' Council to screen any films over the 'exorbitant tax', ticket prices were revised across Tamil Nadu.
"We have no plans to reduce or rollback the entertainment tax as of now," the Information Minister told the media on Monday. "Since ticket prices have been revised, the film industry won't be affected by this move," he added.
As per the orders issued by Home (Cinema) Department on Saturday, the ticket prices in multiplexes which have more than three screens and other facilities like airconditioning, family entertainment and restaurant facilities, was increased to Rs 150.
The minimum fare of Rs 10 has been hiked to Rs 15.
Other multiplexes with two theatres and lesser facilities in various zones will be allowed to charge a base rate between Rs 106.30 and Rs 118.80, according to their grades.
A GST of 28% will then be added to this base rate.
This means that watching a film in the larger multiplexes will now cost Rs 192.
But at the Nadigar Sangam General Body meeting in Chennai on Sunday, it was clear that actors were still not willing to accept the government's orders.
"It is unfair as no other state government in India has come up with such exorbitant taxes," said Vishal."We appeal to the government to reconsider their order. My team and I will be meeting the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister over this matter on October 10th," he added.
(With inputs from Digital Native)