MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) has made cash-starved Maharashtra poorer by around Rs 70 crore, alleged the state BJP on Friday.

The party has accused the ruling Congress-NCP combine of giving undue concessions to ‘the most popular current entertainment show’ — the IPL.

“The reasons behind the Maharashtra government’s generosity in waiving off the entertainment tax on IPL matches need to be probed,” said state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari, hinting that the political pressure might have forced the state government to offer concession to T20 matches.

Mr Bhandari dubbed this form of cricket as more of an entertainment than sport. “The competition should have been considered as an entertainment show than a genuine sports activity and charged entertainment tax. Why should the state give up precious revenue for this ‘cheap entertainment’ ?”, he asked.

As reported by ET on May 13, the state’s revenue ministry decided to exempt IPL matches from the entertainment tax, which is normally charged at 25% of the ticket price. The sponsorship amount is taxed separately. The state government decided to waive both for IPL matches. The Bombay Entertainment Duty Act, 1923, makes it clear that any show, musical, performance that’s organised with an intention of making profits needs to pay entertainment tax to the state government.

Normally, cricket matches are exempted from tax, if they are organised by state units. “In this case, the entire tournament has been a corporate event. There is no need for the state to be so charitable,” the BJP said. “There are many more serious issues than this trivial tournament that needs the state’s attention ,” the party said.

The BJP has also asked BCCI president and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to set aside some of the profits of the IPL cricket matches for debt-ridden farmers, particularly in the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra.

Over 4,500 farmers have so far committed suicides in Vidharbha region alone and their families were facing financial crisis, the party had pointed out. “Mr Pawar can at least give some relief to these families by distributing some IPL profits among them,” the party had said.
Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com