An article in today's edition of Times of India grabbed my attention. The article "Tax waived on gratis WC tickets", stated that a waiver of entertainment duty was granted by the Maharashtra state on complimentary World Cup tickets given to the cricket clubs and associations. This when the cricket clubs are extremely rich and the state in dire financial straits. Welcome to the Indian Cricket Tamasha 2011 !!!
The state's rationale is that complimentary tickets don't have an entrance fee component and since there is no entrance fee, the entertainment duty also cannot be charged. I definitely did not get this argument. It does not seem logical; in the first place why is there no entrance fee for complimentary tickets? So a privileged few not only get these tickets without standing in line for hours but also avoid paying fees and tax. They get to have their cake and eat it too!
View this in the light of the scene in Bangalore a couple of days ago where scores of people stood in line for hours for 7000 tickets available at the counters. Also note another article in the same newspaper stating that the cost of renovation of the Wankhede Stadium today stands at nearly Rs.300 crore.
The state's rationale is that complimentary tickets don't have an entrance fee component and since there is no entrance fee, the entertainment duty also cannot be charged. I definitely did not get this argument. It does not seem logical; in the first place why is there no entrance fee for complimentary tickets? So a privileged few not only get these tickets without standing in line for hours but also avoid paying fees and tax. They get to have their cake and eat it too!
View this in the light of the scene in Bangalore a couple of days ago where scores of people stood in line for hours for 7000 tickets available at the counters. Also note another article in the same newspaper stating that the cost of renovation of the Wankhede Stadium today stands at nearly Rs.300 crore.
No comments:
Post a Comment