In a major relief for those having more than one television set in their homes, the Maharashtra government has amended the Maharashtra Entertainment Tax Act 2014 according to which consumers will have to pay the entertainment tax for just one TV set.
The state government has levied entertainment tax of Rs 45 per home for Mumbai, while for smaller towns and rural areas the entertainment tax is Rs 30 and Rs 15 respectively. While announcing the government’s decision, Minister of State for Revenue Suresh Dhas said that the amendment would be in force till 31 December 2014 which is the deadline for Phase III and IV of digital addressable system (DAS). The government hopes to get hold of the exact number on television homes in the state by 31 December, which will allow it to revise the rates accordingly. The issue of charging entertainment tax for each TV set was brought up by Shiv Sena MLC Anil Parab, who argued that it was unfair to tax people per STB as those who consumed content through other devices did not have to pay entertainment tax. Dhas also revealed that the government had collected Rs 104 crore (Rs 1.04 billion) entertainment tax from 28.36 lakh (Rs 2.84 million) cable TV connections till March 2013. He said that there was an outstanding amount of Rs 101 crore (Rs 1.01 billion) which the government had not been able to collect. Those who are yet to pay their entertainment tax will be charged a penalty of 24 per cent on the outstanding amount, he added. It must be noted that the last mile operators (LMOs) have challenged the Maharashtra government’s ordinance that puts the onus of paying entertainment tax on multi-system operators (MSOs). The LMOs contend that they have been collecting and paying the entertainment tax till now as they own the last-mile customer. Earlier, the Maharashtra Cable Operators Federation (MCOF) and Nasik District Cable Operators Association (NDCOA) had challenged the entertainment GR allowing MSOs to pay entertainment tax. The Bombay High Court had asked the state government not to proceed with the GR till final orders while directing LMOs to pay entertainment tax to the court or to the district administration. Despite the matter being sub judice, the state government proceeded further and amended the entertainment tax act by bringing an ordinance and promulgating it.
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/5201-pay-entertainment-tax-for-only-one-tv-set-in-maharashtra.html
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