The Korean government has ratified a measure to impose tax on film tickets to create funds to support Korean cinema. From July this year film tickets will include a 3-5% tax (25-43 cents per ticket).

The ticket tax imposition is part of the administrations alternative plans to support domestic film after the halving of the Screen Quota in July 2006, to clear a huddle for Free Trade talks with the U.S. The government and the film industry still differ in opinion about the best ways to support Korean cinema.One of the issues discussed is the tax implementation, with the film industry afraid that such measure could lead to lower cinema attendances.

The film ticket tax law will be effective until the end of 2014 and is budgeted to raise US$215 million in those seven years. The total government support will be US$ 430 million. How to support Korean cinema with the funds is not decided yet.

Yi Ch’ang-ho (KOFIC)