SC rules out discriminatory taxes on non regional films

June 05: The apex court, on Monday, has slammed state governments for imposing higher entertainment taxes on non-regional feature films that are released in any particular state. The ruling came after the Hindi films distributor Aashiwrad Films challenged the Andhra Pradesh state’s Entertainment Tax Act.

The Andhra Pradesh Entertainment Tax Act imposed a higher rate of entertainment tax on non-Tamil and non-Telugu films. Justice S.B.Sinha and Markandeya Katju ruled it as unconstitutional under article 14 that talks about ‘equality before law’ within the territory of India.

This practice has not only been observed in Andhra Pradesh but in other states also where non regional films are charged a higher rate of taxes. That is quite possible due to the central government’s fault for not encouraging regional film making.

Though film making has given the status of an industry by the government of India but there have been conflicting issues like funding, national level representation of regional film industry and distribution etc. The state governments impose more taxes on non-regional films can be viewed that in state interest or for the concern of regional films and promotion.

Apart from Bollywood, the mega Hindi film industry, nearly thousands of regional films are produced every year in languages like Tamil, Telugu, Karnad, Bengali and Oriya thereby generating lot of revenue. But due to miss management and especially the involvement of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry FICCI, and some other representatives the regional films have to bear the brunt.

The government needs to formulate policy for a uniform tax structure, financial aid from the centre to regional players. Moreover, it is important to give regional groups access of funding from the financial institutions. Only then the state government could able to see all films on an equal eye.

This is not only in South India where ticket price for Hindi films is much higher than the local films but also in states like Orissa, Bengal, Bihar and other states that are prominent in film making. As such, keeping in mind the percentage of non-Hindi speaking people and growth of regional film market, local film making bodies should be chaired in the national level structure. No doubt, SC’s decision is welcome in the larger interest but government needs to consider all other aspects that will encourage regional film making and productions.