Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1940)

30 MOTION PICTU RE HERALD April 6 , 1940 HOLLYWOOD'S WORLD TAX BILL ON FILMS AND THEATRE TICKETS PART II Taxes in the Latin American Countries tf^fTEPS fake n by Latin American nations to build ^ up their own motion picture production indusk^_J tries both for monetary profit and for the spread of propaganda, as well as to translate a part of foreign distributors' potential earnings into national income by assessment, are the subject of this week's installment of the research project completed for Motion Picture Herald by the Motion Picture Division of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Nathan D. Golden is Chief of the Division. Twenty-seven countries in Central and South America are included in this week's study, which analyzes import taxes and customs duties on motion pictures, censorship fees and taxes, assessments on distribution, and levies on theatres. American dollar equivalents of the monetary units are listed in a footnote. The Near East, Africa and the Far East are studied in the final installment to appear next week. Europe's taxes were recorded in Part 1 last week. Countries ARGENTINA BAHAMAS BARBADOS BERMUDA BOLIVIA BRAZIL BRITISH HONDURAS CHILE COLOMBIA COSTA RICA Argentina' s gold peso, 58.00 Import Taxes and Customs Duties on Motion Picture Films Unexposed. 42% ad valorem and surcharge 4.80 gold pesos. Exposed positive or negative 15 gold pesos per kilo. l'/2% a^ valorem for 90 days if then re-exported. 20«f per 100 ft. I8<J per 100 ft. and 25% surtax. 5% ad valorem @ $.365. 400% surtax in bolivares value. American-Brazilian Trade Agreement (Bound Rates). To 16 mm. developed 28.500 milreis. Over 16 mm developed 56,900 milreis. Unexposed 5.700 milreis. 1 5<? per 100 ft. 5% landed invoice value. 3'/2% C.I.F. 60 pesos per kilo. U. S. Tariff Treaty. Regular rate 1.60 peso. Educational Film 0.25 pesos. $0.27 per kilo plus 4% basic duty and 0.25 colones per gross kilo surcharges. Censorship Fees and Taxes No National Censorship Board. Each municipality censors films. Police censor occasionally. No Censor Board. Censor fee charges not available. No censorship laws. No national censor. (Local censor.) 400 reis per meter — all positive prints only. 200 reis censorship appeal. I0$000 censorship certificate. 5$000 additional censorship certificate. Censor fee charges not available. 140 pesos per feature and in Santiago, Valparaiso & Concepcion a charge of 40 pesos for the first showing of a film. Censor fee charges not available. National Defense 5 to 10% on tickets. Progressive I to 20% on tickets, poor tax 10% on tickets. Blind tax 10 to 20 pesos monthly. National Government tax 5% gross box office receipts. Income tax 5% gross receipts. paper peso, at the rate of exchange March 23rd, equaled 23.65 cents; Brazil's paper milreis, 5.15 cents; Chile's gold peso, 5.16 cents; Colombia's cents; Cuba's silver peso, 88.12H cents; Mexico's peso, 16.90 cents; Peru's soles, 18 cents. Censor fee charges not available. Taxes on Distribution 5% of profits — Income tax. 1.25% Sales tax on posters, etc. 5% of remittances. No figure. No taxes. 6% on exchange remitted abroad. No tax on distributors. 2.5% Sales tax. 7% Income tax. Stamp tax on receipts. 5 to 15% on net income. Theatre Taxes Taxes vary in each municipality. In Buenos Aires, basic tax is 10 centavos on admissions and a tax of 14 centavos for each 100 seats of registered seating capacity. Continuous performance houses tax scale is doubled. No amusement taxes. 10% surtax on theatres. Miscellaneous tax on theatres — 15%. 10% admissions $US 400 annual 5$000 License — $25 to $100. 10% on admissions. 5% on profits. 2.5%