KUALA LUMPUR – Big names in Malaysia’s performance arts scene have thrown their weight behind a push for a waiver on an entertainment tax imposed by the Selangor government, a move they fear could put an end to the careers of local artists.
In December, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari defended an earlier decision to impose an entertainment duty at 15% of ticket prices for all local art and stage performances in Selangor to make up for some RM50 million in losses to the state due to earlier exemptions.
Rapper-producer Altimet said a waiver would be “a gesture of good faith” for an industry that was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic.
He called on entertainment industry practitioners to “take their business to other states” if the state government was unable to give the industry “a little leeway”.
Datuk Zainal Abidin, the veteran singer behind hits like Hijau and Satu, said the tax puts additional strain on concert organisers who already have to foot the bill for everything from venue rental to public insurance and security.
“Are you giving us a free venue? Are you giving us entertainment education? Like a free music academy? What have you given us until you have to tax us? When the industry opens, you want to strangle us,” he said.
Some in the acting fraternity feared that the tax could kill the industry after it barely managed to survive the Covid-19 pandemic.
Instant Cafe Theatre founder Jo Kukathas questioned why the state wanted to “tax the poor or struggling middle class” as “Malaysian artists struggle even at the best of times”.
Taxing artists 25% of their ticket sales after two years of a pandemic that destroyed their livelihood is kicking someone when they are down. Malaysian artists struggle even at the best of times. Why tax the poor or struggling middle class? @AmirudinShari #PakatanHarapan https://t.co/KZOZWGpVL2
— Jo Kukathas (@Jo_Kukathas) March 14, 2022
Fauziah Nawi, who was honoured as a lifelong artist at the 31st Malaysian Film Festival in December, said the government’s decision was “crazy”.
“Malaysians just don’t care about this (the arts) enough. If you impose taxes on us, it would be the end of our lives,” she said, explaining that the industry was inherently unsustainable.
Reggae artist Sasi the Don urged the state government to take the scale of events into consideration before imposing the tax, proposing a waiver for small and independently produced shows.
“What we need to consider here is that the person is not doing it for profit, but instead to sustain themselves (so they can) create more shows and more music.” – The Vibes file pic, March 14, 2022
