FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

i 1949 FILMINDI A Jiess organization. These mediocrities who hardly ^tj earned three-figure incomes per month for thems are now asked to collect and disburse efficiently incial revenues running into several crores. With otism as their only certificate of recommendation have taken upon themselves the none-too-easy task rovincial administration with its thousand and one .1 and economic problems. Basking in the glow of ;r, these mediocrities often strike pseudo-moralistic self-righteous attitudes towards problems that need deal wisdom and experience to be solved satisrily. It is therefore no wonder that our provincial smics are in an awful mess these days. Let us take a small instance in the film field to ilate our argument. It is now well known that we are paying an enterlent tax on all our entertainments varying from 25% % according to the whim of the different provincial iters in different provinces. Another tax varying 25% to 50% is collected on film booklets sold in leatres. [In Bombay, the entertainment tax on shows is col 1 by the Bombay Municipality while the tax on the booklets is collected by the Supervisor, Bombay rtainment Duty Act, whose olfice is at the Old CusHouse, half-a-mile away and out of sight of the bay Municipality. These two tax collecting centres work independently ich other and one doesn't know what the other is t and yet both collect a tax on entertainment from ery same exhibitors in town. The collection of tax on the admission tickets is ler story by itself which we hope to tell some day. is the shorter story about the film booklets usually d 4 annas including the tax of one anna on each let. Two persons, Capt. O'Gorman and his assistant Joseph, are responsible for the collection of the tax ooklets. They haven't a third person. Their juris)n is Greater Bombay which has over sixty cinemas an average capacity of 700 seats. They accept an or's certificate as proof of an exhibitor's honesty he comes to pay the tax on the sale of the booklets, presumed by them that both the exhibitor and his or are honest and on this presumption the tax is :ted. How many exhibitors are really honest is a ion best left unanswered. And how many of their ors can be honest is a matter for speculation. But oust admire the naivete with which the tax-collecting rities accept the statements of the exhibitors as proofs of honesty. This naivete must be taken as Ivance phase of the Kam Rajya that is to come. Here are some statistics which the Revenue Minister 2 Government may study with profit to the provinxchequer. The 60 cinemas in Greater Bombay play an average •80 shows per week and over a million (10 lakhs) e buy admissions to these shows. The average n filmgoer is mad about music and likes to buy a )ooklet to get the words of the songs he likes. But it will be an exaggeration to say that all the ^ >n filmgoers buy film booklets. We shall therefore a downright pessimistic view of things and state >nly 10% of the total filmgoers buy the film book'hile 90% remember the words after the Erst bear ing, like the poets in the court of Raja Bhoj, and walk out singing the songs. But 10% of a million is a hundred thousand persons a week, which means a sale of 1,00,000 film booklets per week at 1380 shows in 60 theatres which again means a tax revenue of Rs. 6250j per week at one anna tax per booklet. That comes to Rs. 25000j tax collections per month. But the actual amount paid to the Supervisor at the Old Custom House is reported to be hardly Rs. 1000|per month, of course backed by auditors' certificates and exhibitors' honesty etc. How come? (That's American). Are we losing Rs. 24000j per month or even more in taxes? Some one must answer this question. Though our Congress ministers do not like suggestions and criticisms, in public interest we take the liberty of giving a few suggestions to collect these taxes. a) There should be a joint department for collecting both the taxes on the tickets and the booklets. b) There should be at least three inspectors for checking up the sales of the tickets and the booklets at different theatres and the duty zones of these inspectors should be changed every month. These inspectors should be on duty from 1 P.M. to 12 midnight every day. c) Prior to the printing of the booklet, the producer or distributor should be made to apply for a permission from the tax-collecting authorities stating the exact number of booklets intended to be printed, their proposed disbursement to the different provinces from time to time, the name of the printer etc. For every new edition of the booklet, fresh permission should be obtained every time. This should be a formal permit to obtain correct statistics. b) After the printing of the booklets, the printer should be made to submit a return to the tax collecting authorities stating the number of copies of a booklet printed and delivered to the producer or the distributor. e) All exhibitors should also be made to submit returns to the authorities showing the total number of booklets received and their sales from day to day. These day to day sales can be submitted in a statement every month. These statements should be countersigned by the inspectors as correct before the tax is accepted. f) Two statistical clerks keeping statistics of all these different returns under different picture heads should be appointed to check up the accuracy of the tax payments by the exhibitors. g) Heavy penalties, such as fines, suspension of exhibition licenses and jail in recurring cases should be prescribed for any attempt to defraud the Government of the tax. We are even willing to help the government to prepare the required statistical registers on efficiency lines if the government are not too keen on maintaining their lofty all-knowing demeanour and are prepared to accept suggestions from a private organization. In any case, we cannot afford to keep on losing precious revenue which can be collected with a little more watchfulness and departmental efficiency. Just at present this tax payment on film booklets has the bad complexion of a racket which has become quite paying to the exhibitors, the producers and the distributors. And the racket must be stopped imme* diately. 5