Chennai sources have reported that Superstar Rajinikanth has tweeted a request to the Tamil Nadu government, asking it to reconsider a 30% municipal tax on movie tickets introduced after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was launched at midnight last Friday.
It was stated that More than a 1,000 cinemas in the state have been closed for the last two days in protest against the hike in taxes they say that the state tax of 30% on tickets on top of the new national tax GST of 28% will deter cinema-goers and encourage piracy. Meanwhile Abirami Ramanathan, who heads the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association, told they are losing 20 crores a day because of the strike.
Kamal Hassan said "There are further tortures and systemic corruption
that the film industry has to endure under this regime," pointing out that
other neighboring southern states have not imposed any additional tax on cinema
over and above the Goods and Services Tax.
