The New Year bash at clubs, hotels, convention centres and resorts will be an expensive affair for merrymakers as the Telangana government has imposed 20 per cent entertainment tax on the sale of entry tickets.
The Commercial Taxes Department is issuing notices to the organisers to remit the amount after gathering information about them from police, who are supposed to issue permissions. There will not be separate tax on the sale of liquor at the venues as tax is inbuilt at the point of distribution from the depots of beverages corporation. This is the first time that the government is collecting ET in an organised manner to earn high revenue from the celebrations.
On the other hand, the Excise Department will as usual charge a flat rate of Rs. 6,000 for issuing one time event permits to organisers serving liquor. The event permits are not required for licensed bars. The Excise Commissioner, Ahmed Nadeem, said the number of permits issued will be known only on December 31.
In the backdrop of the hefty ET, restrictions by police that the New Year celebration at crowded places offering entertainment could not go beyond 1 a.m. and checking by police for drunken driving, the excise authorities do not expect the event to be a big draw with guzzlers. They said the New Year was not a big event even last year in hotels because of low occupancy on account of developments owing to the formation of Telangana.
The Telangana story impacted the sale of liquor in the State though the turnover by Telangana Beverages Corporation since bifurcation in June went up by about Rs. 500 crore over the corresponding period last year. But the situation was grim in Hyderabad where there was neither growth nor slump. As many as 105 liquor shops were not sold in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits when the auctions took place shortly after the formation of the State. The main reason was that they were unviable.
