MUMBAI: Bollywood is upset. And the government is to blame.
In addition to the taxes they are already paying, the government has announced a service tax that will be levied on actors for their acting assignments and endorsements from 1 July – a substantial 12.5 percent.
To put things in perspective, if Salman Khan earns Rs 25 crores, he will pay Rs 3.09 crores. If Shah Rukh Khan charges Rs 20 crores, he will pay Rs 2.47 crores. And this is the A-list actors.
The tax will be levied on small time and television actors as well, whose income is in lakhs. However, the government has also said that if an individual or a firm has an annual income of less than Rs 10 lakh, the service provider can avail exemption and shall not be obliged to pay any tax.
Needless to say, the announcement has elicited some strong reactions from the industry.
"And just as I have turned ‘actress’, the government has decided to also charge 12.5 per cent service tax to all actors. This is tooo much. Kitna nichodogey yaar? (How much more will you take from us?)," Farah Khan posted on Twitter.
Actor Arshad Warsi also expressed scorn saying, "With this service tax, there will be some more jobless actors… Blame it on the tax. Very soon all actors payment will go directly to the Govt and they will start giving us the little per cent that is left for us as salary.”
Amongst the younger lot of actors, Sonam Kapoor tweeted, “Really more tax. This government sucks. Corrupt and useless. We are just filling every politician’s pockets with money. If my money really went into developing my country I’d be more than happy to give it.”
Needless to say, the announcement has elicited some strong reactions from the industry.
"And just as I have turned ‘actress’, the government has decided to also charge 12.5 per cent service tax to all actors. This is tooo much. Kitna nichodogey yaar? (How much more will you take from us?)," Farah Khan posted on Twitter.
Actor Arshad Warsi also expressed scorn saying, "With this service tax, there will be some more jobless actors… Blame it on the tax. Very soon all actors payment will go directly to the Govt and they will start giving us the little per cent that is left for us as salary.”
Amongst the younger lot of actors, Sonam Kapoor tweeted, “Really more tax. This government sucks. Corrupt and useless. We are just filling every politician’s pockets with money. If my money really went into developing my country I’d be more than happy to give it.”
