Budget 2019: How Entertainment Tax Has Impacted Our Outings

Even if you aren’t into finance or have no clue about GST, your daily life changed irrevocably in July 2017. On this day India’s new direct regime came into force and turned our lives, or in this case budget, around. Let’s see how it impacted our day-to-day activities and finances.

Things like a family lunch/dinner outing, movie watching and even a simple take away from a good, well-established restaurant have costed us deeply over the past few months. So much so has been the impact that the expenditure has hit the roof, almost doubling up for the middle-class household, leaving not much room for the savings. After speaking to a few women around, here is a wishlist that seems to be somewhat a breather.

What should the government do?

Control Service Charge

Do you know that it’s your choice to pay a service charge? As per the GST guidelines, it totally depends upon the customer whether he wants to pay a service charge or not. However, there are still some restaurants which force their customers to pay for it.

Movie Tickets

Due to the interim budget in ‘single window clearance’ customers have to pay only single tax i.e GST. But how does it benefits us? Movie tickets are very expensive on weekends and also for fully booked shows. So, in such a situation, the government can introduce a new initiative, perhaps a cap on how much a movie ticket will be charged no matter what the demand is. Also, the government can lessen the entertainment tax and give some rebate to college goers, senior citizens and even kids below a certain age. This might help for the hole to hurt a little less. Also, in case one book a ticket online, many service providers like Book My Show even charge what they call "handling charges" with each booking made. The government and concerned authorities should be extra cautious with such practices and safeguard consumer interests.

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High Tax On Food Items

If you are a food lover, or can't resist the urge to pop-in your favourite flavour of popcorn while watching your hero kick some ass in the theatre, then you must be one of the sufferers of forceful spending, that too an expensive one. So if the government introduces a new provision to reduce the prices or allow us to carry food- it’ll be a sigh of relief for many! Though the idea of carrying home-cooked meal or outside meal is allowed in certain parts of the country, making it more inclusive might help a bit and save many of us, hunger-struck souls, with better options.

Video Streaming Websites

Love binge-watching? Or addicted to Netflix? Let’s just admit it, we all are addicted to online series or movies and we can’t get enough of them. Making note of the same, the government can implement some sort of subscription plan for apps like Amazon and Netflix, which are also costing us anywhere from Rs 129/month to Rs 650/month, by capping the maximum they can charge a consumer basis their pattern. This will allow us not just the comfort of home but save us from unnecessary expenditure that might be incurred if stepped outside the house.

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