Faysal Quraishi worries about the impact of the removal of advance tax on foreign TV shows
The actor said the move would hurt people in the industry looking for jobs.
The United Producers Association, Actor’s Collective Pakistan (ACT) and Directors Guild Pakistan on Monday joined hands to call for suspension of plans to withdraw the advance tax on imported foreign TV shows and advertisements over fears that reversal of the policy may economically impact the local industry.
The three filmmaking unions representing producers, actors and directors recalled in their joint statement that the advance tax had been introduced in 2013-14 by then finance minister Ishaq Dar “as part of a policy framework to strengthen indigenous media.”
Reaffirming their support of tax reform, the unions demanded that any policy affecting Pakistan’s creative economy “must be preceded by meaningful stakeholder consultation” and called for the formation of a National Creative Economy Policy to address matters impacting the local creative industry.
“Reversing a policy that has remained in place for more than a decade should only occur after a comprehensive economic review and consultation,” the statement said.
The media industry is a source of livelihood for thousands of professionals and their families across television, film, digital media, advertising, music, animation, post-production and related sectors, the unions said, respectfully requesting the government to:
The joint statement comes days after actor Faysal Quraishi expressed concerns about the proposed policy shift. In a video posted on his Instagram account in collaboration with ACT on Saturday, the actor warned the move would result in local artists, technical crew and other people associated with filming losing their jobs.
Last week, actor and director Shamoon Abbasi also objected to the move, saying it took Pakistan “10 years to re-establish our drama industry” after a prior surge in the airing of foreign content.
“Bringing back foreign content to Pakistan will destroy the actors, producers, directors [and] writers once again,” Abbasi said.