Kamal Haasan threatens to quit films, says GST rate will ruin cinema

June 03, 2017 00:23

South mega star Kamal Haasan on Friday said that he will be "forced to quit cinema" if the GST rate for the entertainment industry is not slashed by at least half.

GST or Goods and Services Tax is set to be launched next month and aims at replacing a tangled web of central and state levies with a single tax.

For the film industry, the entertainment and services taxes will be replaced by a single 28 per cent slab which, says Kamal Haasan, is steep.

"We welcome GST and one India one tax. But this rate will ruin regional cinema," said the 62-year-old actor-filmmaker, urging Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to cut the GST rate to 12-15 per cent.

"If I can't afford the tax I'll have to quit. I will not work for the government... what is this? Is this the East India Company?" Haasan questioned.

GST, India's biggest tax overhaul, is set to debut on July 1. A small list of goods will be exempt from taxes while the rest will be taxed at the approved rates of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.

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