Punjab Government is going to slap on an ‘Entertainment Tax’ on all the cinemas operating in the province.
The Punjab Excise and Taxation department has issued a notice to the cinema owners in this regard recently. The notice said that a 65% duty on admission tickets should be applied.
Cinema owners will be bearing the brunt of this duty and are likely to increase ticket prices from Rs. 500 to Rs. 825. It all depends on the cinema owners on how they handle the taxes.
It should be mentioned that recently the Cinema Owners Association removed their self-imposed ban on Indian movies, which hurt them more than it hurt the general public.
Tax Was Waived Off Since 2006
It’s worth noting that the government had waived off the tax in the previous decade to promote investment in cinemas in Pakistan. The tax was removed back in 2006 to improve the overall condition of cinemas in the country. Back then there were only 20-25 cinema houses in Punjab. Now they number around 125.
The government lifted the ban on screening Indian movies in the cinemas back in 2007 to promote investment. Since then, billions of rupees have been invested in the cinemas which resulted in a 600% increase in the number of cinemas in the province.
Most of the revenue is generated from Punjab (50%) with Karachi second in terms of revenues collected.
However, following the new notification, Punjab government will be collecting this tax from the cinemas under the Entertainment Duty Act 1958.
Stalling Investments in Cinemas
New investments in the cinemas will now stop due to the tax duty according to the Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association.
Chairman of the Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association Zohair Lashari said,
Billions of rupees have been invested in this industry, but all ongoing and fresh investments would be stalled now.
He hopes that the Chief Minister Punjab intervenes to help resolve the matter.
Meanwhile on the Punjab government’s side of things, Finance Minister Doctor Ayesha Ghaus Pasha explains that the government does not want to cause any undue harm to the cinemas. She adds:
We don’t want to cause a negative impact to any industry, but we have to collect taxes especially from those sectors that have the ability to pay them. I will meet the minister of excise and taxation and the exhibitors to resolve this issue.
An increase in ticket prices is all but confirmed now thanks to the Entertainment Duty. It will definitely affect the number of people heading to cinemas in the future and will hurt cinema owners all over Punjab.
At the end of the day no one is going to hurt except a common man.
so will the film industry.
in short. raise popcorn prices
why does the common man need to go to cinemas and watch INDIAN films? stop idolizing those hindus and so called muslims… stay in your limits… you are third grade citizens in your own country…
If ‘Awam’ is willing to pay for an Indian Film they should also be ready to pay Tax…
Yar bas kardey.
What about ‘Angrezi’ movie?
Pakistani, Turkish and English films also run in these same cinemas. Thousands of people are directly and indirectly dependent upon the cinema business. Don’t be so callous in your self-righteousness.
Majority of our cinema goers watch Bollywood..so as callous as it may sound … Bollywood should be taxed….and trust me people will still be paying for it and more than ever.
Distributors of Indian films should be taxed. You cannot justify a blanket 65% tax with this logic.
Pakistani Cenimas tried by imposing the ban on indian movies. It was the time that we all should stood with our cenima investors and supported their decision by watching every pakistani movie, and government should have supported them in that deceision as well by reducing the taxes on cenimas, so they can manage their losses with that. But First of all no support from government whatsoever. Or hamari awam b har pakistani movie dekhne k liay nae nikli. Ismay awam ka kasoor nae, jab hamari industry PATHETIC tareen movies bana rae hogi why would awam spend money on that? Baqi ese comments se pehle atleast pakistani movies k trailers zaror dekh len, aap apna sar peet lo gay. Or yeh reason k indian media gandi chezain laata hamary culture may . I can challenge you, 90% songs and content of pakistani movies is already filthy and pathetic
All cinema houses are already empty these days. These taxes will become final nail in the coffin of cinema industry.
A cinepax cinemas, only family cinema chain in Pakistan charges 500 for silver screen seats as their minimum rates. No body will go to cinemas after buying 850 Rs one ticket. RIP cinema & film industry