Saturday 28 December 2013

MSOs in Kolkata urge WB government to go soft on amusement tax

The multi-system operators (MSOs) in Kolkata have urged the state government to maintain leniency in amusement tax collection as they are yet to collect money from the end customer. 
The MSOs in Kolkata were so far paying amusement tax on a lower subscriber base in analogue regime. However, the advent of digital addressable system (DAS) has resulted in full declaration which means that their tax burden will go up considerably. 

The MSOs will have to pay Rs. 10 per STB as amusement tax for three million cable TV homes in the metropolitan city. The amusement outgo works out to Rs. 30 million a month. 
In a meeting with West Bengal Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim on Tuesday, the MSOs had requested the government to allow them to pay amusement tax for only the analogue subscriber base till the time they start collecting money from all the subscribers. 
“With 100 per cent declaration, we have to pay amusement tax and service tax per subscriber. Therefore, we have asked the government to help us out till the time we start retail billing in Kolkata. We also discussed impact of DAS on Kolkata and subscriber billing,” says the head of a leading MSO. 
The minister will give his recommendations to the state government which will take a final call on the matter, the source adds. 
The Bengal Amusements Tax Act, 1922 imposes tax on certain forms of entertainments like film shows, musical soirees, betting on horse racing on sports and games held in an amusement park, theme park or water games park, pool game or bowling game etc. 
Presently, bulk of the revenue collected under this Act comes from sources like film shows in commercial cinema halls and betting on horse racing.

Source: Television Post, 28 December

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/3915-msos-in-kolkata-urge-wb-government-to-go-soft-on-amusement-tax.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/3915-msos-in-kolkata-urge-wb-government-to-go-soft-on-amusement-tax.html

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