Chandigarh, December 21: The Cabinet today approved levying entertainment tax on local cable connections and slashing it for direct-to-home (DTH) connections to ensure level-playing field.The tax will be Rs 5 (down from Rs 60) per DTH connection and Rs 2 per local cable connection in urban and rural areas.
The move will generate a revenue of Rs 47 crore.The development will give momentum to Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s initiative to take on the “cable mafia” by making them accountable for their subscriber’s base.
Sidhu has repeatedly raised the issue of bringing on record the connections of Fastway Transmissions Pvt Ltd, a company Navjot Sidhu claims enjoyed patronage of the previous Akali government.
Top government functionaries had earlier opined that Presidential consent would be required to the draft of the proposed legislation that was approved in the October 16 Cabinet meeting.
The move would have delayed the matter. After today’s meeting, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said: “As per the legal advice, the previous amendments in the draft legislation were in contravention to the Central laws.
So, the amendments have been done to enable approval at state level.”Following the amendments in the draft “The Punjab Entertainments & Amusements Taxes (Levy and Collection by Local Bodies) Act 2017”, the Cabinet has cleared the ordinance that is expected to be approved by the Governor in the coming days.
The tax would be levied from the date of notification, Manpreet said.The government also plans to rein in private operators to provide WiFi internet connections at cheaper rates. No entertainment tax has been proposed for ultiplexes, amusement parks etc.
Source Tribune India
