Government mulls Indian DTH request to lessen tax burden

[Thakur]

The Indian Government is looking into the
long-standing demand of direct-to-home (DTH)
TV operators to reduce what the sectors feels
are excessive taxes, amounting to around 33%
of its revenue.
Currently, DTH operators are required to pay
service tax to the central government, as well
as entertainment tax to various states, a
situation they seek to be rationalised ahead of
the Union Budget.
"We are aware of the issue. It is being
discussed and it is now with the Ministry of
Finance," Prakash Javadekar, Information and
Broadcasting Minister, told the Press Trust of
India.
"We are paying around 12.36% as service tax
and 11% as entertainment tax. Over 33% of
our revenue goes in taxation," said Harit
Nagpal, President of DTH Operators
Association of India and CEO and MD of Tata
Sky. "We are ready to pay taxes but we should
not be taxed by the central government and
state government both.
"We are paying 10% of our revenue as licence
fee to the government. When it was introduced
there was no service tax or entertainment tax
applicable on us. Now we are paying taxes, the
licence fee should also be rationalised," added
Nagpal.
Together, India's six private DTH operators
serve 35 million active satellite TV subscribers. Government mulls Indian DTH request to lessen tax burden | Satellite | News | Rapid TV News

 

[Thakur]

DTH ops, MSOs start
campaign on
Entertainment Tax

MUMBAI:In the run up to Budget
2014,the DTH Operators Association and the MSO Alliance
have joined hands with broadcasters to embark on an
aggressive campaign (in the shape
of a television promo or commercials) to fight the heavy
entertainment taxes levied on them by the
various state governments.
The TV commercial which stars Roopal Tyagi
(Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke) and Surbhi
Jyoti ( Qubool Hai ) has been running across all
channels. It makes an appeal to TV viewers to
log on to http://entertainmenttaxappeal.com to
pledge against rising entertainment taxes. It
says that on an average a viewer spends
approximately Rs 3000 on cable TV and DTH
recharges annually. Almost half of this goes
directly into the government's kitty by way of
taxes. Therefore, there is a need to put an end
to it.
“We will present the appeals from the people
to the government and hope that they take
note of it,” says newly-appointed DTH
Operators Association of India president RC
Venkateish. He added that the advertisement
was timed to coincide with the upcoming
budget session.
Entertainment tax is a state subject and hence,
varies from state to state. In some, it is a fixed
amount while in others the state exchequer
carves it out as a percentage of the bill.
“The state of Maharashtra charges Rs 45 as
entrainment tax. This is ridiculously high,” says
an industry professional and adds, “High
entertainment tax is one of the reasons why
local operators don’t declare the number of
viewers they have.”
The campaign is expected to run for a month
in order to build a ground swell of public
opinion against the entertainment tax levies. It
seems to have got the Information
& Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar's
attention already. Speaking to PTI recently he
assured industry that "the government is
looking into the demands of the DTH operators
and that the issue is with the Ministry of
Finance."
"Industry has high hopes in the new Modi-led
government. For several years, it has been
appealing to the previous government to
reduce the burden but to no avail. High and
multiple taxes have been crippling. Hopefully,
the government will find a solution to this
problems," says a media observer.
It's now over to Mr Arun Jaitley. http://www.indiantelevision.com/specials/event-coverage/budget-2014/dth-ops-msos-start-campaign-on-entertainment-tax-140707