Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1957)

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hursday, March 21, 1957 Motion Picture Daily 5 Coyne Warns of Widened Admission Taxes \sks Vigilance Despite Cuts n Some Areas (Continued jrom page 1) Le state by state study, Robert W. toyne, special counsel for COMPO, lamed exhibitors not now subject to „ch local taxes not to be complacent bout their immunity because presides on looal government . are incasing. At the same time he pointed Lit that most municipal authorities Ire amenable to exhibitors' pleas for Llief when actual or threatened distess may be shown. 66 Have Repealed [ He also warned however that only lard painstaking effort by exhibitors Ian win relief from local discriminahry taxation. In this connection the ooklet lists 66 local governments Lhich have repealed local taxes in Lcent years, and another 35 which lave reduced them. | All information in the COMPO looklet came from state and local tax Ifficials or other government sources. \t is being distributed to company [residents and sales managers, heads [f exhibitor associations, circuit executes and a number of individual theal:e owners. Six States Unreported I Admission tax revenues from 17 of Le 23 states and the two territories |i 1955, the latest year for which tjomplete reports are available, totaled 1.9,944,716.83. The other six states, 111' of which have sales or gross releipts taxes applicable to motion piclure admissions, do not segregate Imusement or motion picture revenues [mm other receipts, so no figures were jibtainable. i Of the 491 looal governments imposing admission taxes, 306 reported lomparison of 19 55 and 1956 Admission Tax Revenues In Key Cities City 1955 1956 lew York $ Philadelphia '.hicago 'ittsburgh Richmond, Va. ^ew Orleans, La. Cincinnati Atlantic City Mobile, Ala. Ijlarrisburg, Pa. il lan Diego, Cal. : iakersfield, Cal. iinghamton, N. Y. >hoenix, Ariz. ,068,984.00 ,723,917.0c1 ,076,911.87 637,302.95 172,552.402 169,284.83 134,779.31 122,821.45 104,373.22^ 84,921.69 72,397.14 60,636.52* 34,265.41 9,750.06 $4,871, 1,621, 1,012, 600, 185, 144, 127, 117, 68. 78 66 58 33 9 082.56 032.00 369.12 114.66 718.672 ,052.36 ,329.68 ,141.25 ,484.323 ,216.72 ,657.83 ,695.61 ,957.00 ,088.73 I Totals $9,472,897.85 $8,993,940.51 I. Philadelphia tax reduced from 10% to 5%, 1 effective January 1, 1957. !. Includes admission taxes from other amusements. Si Mobile tax reduced in 1956. t. Bakersfield tax repealed as of Jan. 1, 1957. Sfafe Admission Taxes or State Sales or Gross Receipts Taxes Applicable To Motion Picture Admissions State Tax 1955 1956 Alabama Arizona Arkansas Florida Georgia Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Mississippi Missouri Montana New Mexico North Dakota Oklahoma South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah West Virginia Wyoming Hawaii Puerto Rico Total 3% 2% 2%1 3% 3% 1% 2</2% 2% Sliding Scale 2% y2of i%2 3% 2% VA%» 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% Sliding Scale 2% 2% 2% 2l/2% 20% on admissions over 20c $ 323,399.07* $ 339,236.22* 1,730,249.16* (Yr. ended 6/30) 1,240,637.80* 1,723,153.06* 1,271,937.94* (Yr. ended 6/30) 351,959.81* (Yr. ended 6/30) 452,511.66* (Yr. ended 6/30) 1,577,412.00* (Yr. ended 6/30) 111,091.80 420,358.81* 529,915.42 33,566.90 (Yr. ended 6/30) 305,333.00* 139,577.99* 372,774.70* (Yr. ended 6/30) 371,927.75* (Yr. ended 6/30) 399,025.00* (Yr. ended 6/30) 1,500,070.00* (Yr. ended 6/30) (First 7 months) 57,449.13 417,821.19 231,434.64 30,262.29 201,311.00 1 17,839.55* 339,326.00* (Yr. ended 6/30) (First 6 months) (Yr. ended 6/30) (First 8 months) 292,944.26* 127,255.62 186,935.99* (First 8 months) 213,024.74 529,748.55* 117,859.28 416,922.00* 871,199.00* $9,944,716.83 (19 of 25 states and territories reporting) 555,420.50* 469,650.00* 817,799.00* * Includes admission taxes from other amusements besides theatres. 1. Arkansas increased the state sales tax from 2% to 3%, effective February 15, 1947. 2. Maryland tax is collected by the state and redistributed to Baltimore and 23 counties in which it was collected. 3. The Montana Legislature voted to repeal this tax, effective April 1, 1957. 1955 revenues of $13,623,429.18. A very small percentage of this total represented taxes from aimisements other than movies. The other local governments failed to reply to a COMPO questionnaire or stated they were not permitted by looal ordinances to disclose the information. Conceited Effort Bore Fruit The booklet lists 35 cities and towns which have reduced admission taxes in recent years, and 66 others which have repealed such taxes. Many of these reductions and repeals have taken place in the past few months as a result of concerted exhibitor efforts. The booklet contains a summary listing states imposing taxes on admissions, the tax rate in each, and the amount of revenues received from the tax in 1955 and the latest available 1956 figures. Another table lists the states in which local admission taxes are imposed, the number of local taxes imposed in each, and the number of those reporting the amount of revenue received from such taxes and the total reported. There is also a state by state report on the admission tax situation in each of the 48 states and three territories, with a table on local admission taxes and revenues, giving the names of the cities, towns and school districts imposing the tax, the tax rates, and the 1954, 1955 and 1956 revenues in each, where obtainable. Much Data on Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, in which local taxes are imposed by 31 cities, 83 boroughs, 27 townships and 49 school districts, with possibly some others still unreported, takes up 12 pages of the booklet with detailed information on these local imposts. The booklet also contains a comparison of 1955 and 1956 revenues in 14 key cities from which complete returns were available. New York City, with a 5% local admission tax, heads the list, having collected $5,068,984 in 1955 and $4,871,082.56 in 1956. Philadelphia, with a 10% local tax which was cut to 5% on January Compo Survey Gives Report State by State 1, is second with $1,723,917 collected in 1955 and $1,621,032 in 1956. Chicago, with a 3% tax and collections of $1,076,911.97 in 1955 and $1,012,369.12 in 1956, is third. Total revenues from these 14 key cities were $9,472,897.85 in 1955 and $8,993,940.51 in 1956, and account for about twothirds of the revenue from 360 reporting cities. Commenting on the results of the survey, Coyne said: "This report shows what a terrific bite is taken from the industry each year by state and local admission taxes. Says Intent-to-Tax Exists "Exhibitors and other industry representatives in areas now free from local admission taxes should not be too complacent about having escaped this impost. It is still the declared policy of the American Municipal Association to work for enabling legislation to impose local taxes in such states where the authority does not now exist.