Kannada film industry asks for no service tax

Prominent members of the Kannada film industry plan to meet Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram to plead for withdrawal of service tax on artistes and others in the industry.
Kannada Cinema Artists Association President, Ambareesh, pointed out that the film industry was already burdened with entertainment tax. So the service tax is bound to hit producers, distributors, exhibitors, artists and technicians.
"The artists do not have a permanent source of income. They are in the reckoning until they are saleable in the market. Levying service tax on film industry will doubly burden the industry," he said.
Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce President K V Chandrashekhar said confusion had cropped up as to who should bear the burden of service tax. "Will it be the producer, distributor or exhibitor?" he said, while pointing out, "The film industry is not a service industry."
The issue is hardly new for the Kannada film industry, which had gone on a strike protesting against the same in February last year. Back then, a team from the industry had met Governor H R Bharadwaj and handed over a memorandum demanding that the Union Government withdraw the service tax.