Even as the questioning the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates in the Tamil film Mersal is in the eye of the storm, Kannada film artistes are slowly joining in with criticism of the tax regime.
One leading star, Sudeep, expressed discontentment with the new tax regime during a chat with a news channel recently. “Though it is being claimed that it is ‘One Nation, One Tax, One Market,’ the tax structure is different in various parts of the country and people are suffering because of this. People had pinned their hopes on the new tax system, but they are left disappointed,” he said.
Saying it has become difficult to question the tax regime, he said: “People are afraid to ask questions and are silently enduring the pain as they fear raids.”
He, however, went on to say that he does not know accounting or auditing, but only feels the pinch as a layman.
Handmade products
Multilingual actor and director Prakash Raj too expressed concern over the imposition GST on even handmade products. “It is unfair to impose GST on handmade products,” he said, adding that it surprising that this was coming from a government that has spoken of ‘Make in India’ and of creating jobs, he said.
Noting that Mr. Sudeep has expressed his sentiments in a mild manner, national award-winning director B. Suresh said, “Besides subscribing to the opinion of Sudeep and supporting the opinions aired in Mersal , I urge the Centre to immediately offer zero tax benefit to handmade products in order to protect the dignity of a class still dependent on manual labour.”
Actor Sanjana Galrani said the tax regime has burdened the poor. Actor Chetan said it has created more confusion than clarity.
