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High Ent.Tax ruins night life in Mussoorie

by azzayindia | January 3, 2009 at 04:23 am

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MUSSOORIE, 1 Dec: The night life of Mussoorie is in a shambles due to the exorbitant rate of entertainment tax in the state of Uttarakhand. The archaic laws of Uttar Pradesh are still applicable in the state, which has not helped the cause of entertainment in Mussoorie. The 100 year old cinema halls have remained shut since 1990, which does not augur well for the Tourism Industry, already reeling under the pressure of the Mumbai attack and global meltdown.
The UP Entertainment and Betting Tax Act of 1979, which was amended in 1995, states “that the entertainment tax will be payable at a rate not exceeding 110 percent of each payment for admission plus a surcharge at a rate not exceeding fifty paisa for each such payment”.
The cinema owners of Mussoorie are the most dejected lot along with the tourists and the residents of Mussoorie, who are unable to watch the newly released films on the silver screen. The owner of the historic Rialto Cinema, Vikas Hari, says that the entertainment tax has broken the back of the cinema owners, as the maximum collection goes into taxes and nothing is left for the management, cost of prints, and the staff of the cinema hall. The non-availability of the popular mode of entertainment in the town is also limiting the options for tourists. Consequently, there is a dip in the incoming tourist population.
Gopal Bhardwaj, an expert on Mussoorie, says that the cinema in India is more than 100 years old. The first cinema to be run with electricity was in Mussoorie.The cinema hall was called “The Electric”, now Picture Palace, which has also been closed for a long time.
The President of the Mussoorie Hotels’ Association, RN Mathur, says that the days of live bands and DJs are over in Mussoorie and one can feel the difference this year. The crowd was smaller on New Year’s Eve, this year. Mathur also added that Mussoorie was famous for organising Mussoorie Queen, Weston Queen and Miss Femina contests, which has been stopped due to the indifferent attitude of the Entertainment Tax department. Gopal Bhardwaj added that the 2nd Miss Femina contest was organised here in 1956 and, subsequently, continued for a few years. The live shows came to an abrupt halt when the entertainment tax increased manifold in Mussoorie. RN Mathur also said that entertainment tax on the televisions in the hotel rooms was also inappropriate. He stated that the Hotel Association had filed a case in the lower courts against this tax and had won. The case was still pending in the sessions court.
RN Mathur also said that the high rate of tax had meant that event managers had shifted to other tourist destinations, thus leading to a loss of revenue to the state and tourism. He further said that a tourist state like Uttarakhand ought to be given a tax holiday on such recreation activities like Pool, Snooker, Video Games and Cinema to promote tourism.
The event managers said that managing events in Uttarakhand, which could become a huge source of income for the state and increase tourist activities, was cumbersome due to the Entertainment Act and they are moving to Himachal Pradesh, where the tax laws were much more relaxed. The event managers also said that the high rate of obtaining a bar licence had not helped the cause of tourism in the state, which went hand in hand with any event in the hotels.
Alok Malhotra, advocate from Mussoorie, was also of the view that the act ought to be amended according to the needs of Uttarakhand state so that tourists who visited Mussoorie had options after visiting the tourist places.
The Entertainment Tax structure needs to be ratified and presented in such a form that it benefits not only the state in the shape of additional revenue, but provides employment for many.source:http://www.garhwalpost.com/centrenewsdetail.aspx?id=9683;&nt=Uttarakhand