Superstar Rajinikanth has tweeted a request to the Tamil Nadu government, asking it to reconsider a 30 per cent municipal tax on movie tickets introduced after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was launched at midnight last Friday. "Keeping in mind the livelihood of lakhs of people in the Tamil film industry, I sincerely request the TN GOVT to seriously consider our plea," said Rajinikanth, 66, who is shooting for a new film in Mumbai and has kept fans guessing on whether he will join politics soon.
More than a 1,000 cinemas in the state have been closed for the last two days in protest against the hike in taxes - they say that the state tax of 30 per cent on tickets on top of the new national tax GST of 28 percent will deter cinema-goers and encourage piracy.
The issue was raised in the state assembly on Tuesday by the Opposition.
Actor and filmmaker Kamal Haasan thanked Rajinikanth for raising the issue.
Mr Ramanathan said the taxes would encourage people to illegally download films. Movie theatre owners say that they accept the new GST, but that cinemas cannot afford the state duty as well.
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