Metro Manila halts amusement tax for local films from 2025-2028

POPCORN TO FOLLOW After being shuttered for months due to the pandemic, one of the movie theaters at Power Plant Mall in Makati City gets its first few viewers on Wednesday. Cinemas in Metro Manila are finally allowed to operate under alert level 2. —RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — The collection of amusement taxes for the screening of local films will be suspended in Metro Manila from 2025 to 2028.

In a resolution approved on Wednesday, February 28, the Metro Manila Council (MMC) explained its action saying the levy “adds a financial burden to local film producers, potentially affecting the sustainability of the Filipino film industry.”

During the MMC meeting held on the same day, director Jose Javier Reyes of the Film Development Council of the Philippines noted the significant decline of the Philippine film industry due to costly taxes and content piracy.

“A producer needs to pay three types of taxes for each film including 10% amusement taxes together with other taxes such as Value Added Tax and Income Tax, making us the most heavily-taxed movie industry in the world,” Reyes pointed out.

MMDA Acting Chairman and Metro Manila Film Festival Overall head Don Artes expressed support for the MMC resolution.

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“In support of the resolution, they will amend their respective local revenue codes to waive the amusement tax for Filipino movies exhibited in Metro Manila from January 8 to December 24 of every year for the next three years,” Artes said in a statement on Thursday.

The MMDA noted that the suspension of amusement taxes excludes the period of the Metro Manila Film Festival, which is from December 25 of every year until January 7 of the following year.