Minutes 07/14/1953 - Laserfiche WebLink

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_28 TUESDAY JULY 14, 1953 1. Imposition of such a tax is a cliscriminatory, arbitrary, additional tax exaction. I have already" stated that the exibitor must pay all other taxes that retail or similar operations pay. 2. The arrmsement business is essentially a legitimate bus iness and caters principally to persons in the lower income brackets who are financially unable to afford more expensive amusements such as clubs, golf, etc. 3. The amusement interests, in the final analysis, pay amusement taxes because through years of experience it has been found that there is a certain level of admission more than which the public will not pay. Any increase in price brought about by aJnusenent taxes innnediate~ affects attendance and since it innnediate~ affects attendance, this means that the theatres must absorb amusement taxes and pay them out of the exhibitor's own pockets, which the exhibitors cannot afford to do, for the reasons stated below. 4. The amusement interests are in serious financial difficulties and cannot stand the imposition of amusement taxes. Because of increase in federal and state taxes in general, and the declining purchasing power of the dollar, the number of dollars available for amusement money has steadily declined since 1946. TIlis, added to the tax free competition of television and other arrmsements, has resulted in admissions which is very seriously affecting the motion picture industry and the taxable values of this industry. We shall be glad to ShOVl you, by actual operating statements, that paid admissions to the theatres do not meet the cost of operating these theatres. The solvency of large investments in motion picture enterprises, representing as I said before, the lifetime earnings of marv of the oymers, is in jeopardy. The exhibitors still hope for a better day, either in the tax situation, or the technical advances, such as three dimension pictures, through which they may be able to increase attendance. Imposition of the amusement tax is the straw that is breaking the camel's back and thrOYiS these theatres into greater i'inancial difficulties. As a result of these factors, thousands of theatres have closed t."'1roughout the Uni tad States and marv have closed in the state of VirgiILi.a, and others are closing and certainly will close j~ ta,'(es are not reduced. 5. The closing of theatres means also a loss of taxable valued. A four-wall theatre cannot readily be converted into any other use. The Chairman of the Economics Committee of the National Association of Real Estate Boards appeared before a committee of Congress studyiYl[; the plights of theatres and what could be done to help them, and stated, as reported in the Wall Street JO~lrnal of April 17, 1953, that "movie theatres shut down throuc;hout the country are haYing a diversant affect on Ineishborhood values I . rr You may think that a few cents does not mean anything to the public, v[hieh wants to see motion pictures. But I ask You, from your oym experience and knowledge of the public, to recall how much a few cents, or even one cent difference in the price of cigarettes and the price of Gasoline means to the average man. He vrill go a long way to save a penny; the motion picture people have fOLhTld that one or two cents difference means thp difference between a man going himself and taking his friends and fa~ily to a motion picture, or not going, because the pennies add up. PenIues add up to the exhibitor also &'ld can mean a loss or a profit in the motion picture industry.