kolkata the booze may be flowing the dance floor packed and the pool tables overbooked on a saturday night at the citys ever growing number of pubs pool parlours and discothequesbut discontent is brewing against what most owners and managers feel is an unfair taxation system of the kolkata municipal corporationthe kmc has increased its amusement tax earnings by a whopping 50 per cent for the 200203 fiscal by ensuring that discos restaurants cyber cafes cable tv operators clubs and even roadshow organisers pay the tax in advancein 200102 the department earned rs 9297 lakh the figure has jumped to almost rs 15 crore this year almost 75 per cent more than the rs 85 lakh we had hoped for mayor subrata mukherjee told tnn on saturdayterming it as a major success story he said in 200304 the kmc was hoping to touch the rs 2crore mark however while the inflow of amusement tax is surely good news to the kmc those who are paying up are far from amusedeach month we submit a list to the excise department and the city police stating the number of days we want to keep open beyond 2 am for each late night we pay the excise department rs 4000 and the police rs 1500 however kmc has a strange rule irrespective of the closing time it charges at rs 600 per night for 365 days with the entire amount payable in advance we pay them nearly rs 219 lakh annually says owner of the pubpooldisco at a city star hotel bunti sethisimilar is the case with star hotels we pay over rs 4 lakh every year as amusement tax to kmc this includes the tax we pay for running a disco and a pub inside our premises as well as the restaurants said a spokesperson for a fivestar hotel on park streetclubs are a little better off we pay around 20000 annually to kmc as amusement tax said an officebearer of the calcutta rowing club bigger clubs churn out up to rs 35000however mukherjee is determined a lot of establishments used to get away by not paying their dues we have stopped that he saidup for grabsestablishments under section 422 of kmc act 1980planetarium cinema conference hall theatre video game parlour exhibition hall carnival road showshotels bars restaurants disco pool parlour bowling alley cyber cafe cable operator tv in boarding and guesthouseswhat karnataka doesthe karnataka entertainment tax act 1958 provides for levy and collection of tax on people who provide entertainmentthere is also tax on screening of films providing antenna and cable tv connections entry to horse races exhibitions pageants and recognised games or sports money is collected on a weekly or monthly basisfor film shows the entertainment tax is levied at 100 per cent of the payment charged for admission for cable and antennae operators the liability to pay tax depends on the number of connectionsthe rates vary between rs 15 and rs 20 entertainment tax on exhibitions performances