We don’t need no fake taxation

Luke Kenny talks about the recently stirred up legal issues between Maharashtra's musician and the government.

I find it alarming that all of a sudden the Maharashtra government has decided to slap an entertainment tax on live music.
All of a sudden independent musicians who have depended on playing live music at various venues for their livelihood have been eliminated from the scene overnight.

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What kind of message does this send out? How much more money will this state government take from us citizens? And for what? Where will it go? Certainly not for the benefit of the musicians themselves. No, they’re left to fend for themselves, for nobody is going to stand up for them.

And once again we find genuine independent music being given the step treatment it has always been exposed to. Once again, the government lets down its city’s talent treasure trove. And once again we lethargically lament the impotence of the system.

Where do we go now?
But I say it is time to raise our voices as fellow musicians, artists and patrons of quality entertainment. We need to protest as peacefully as we can and bring to the notice of the powerful ones, the foolish nature of this decree.

And also to firmly request that they revoke this decision at their earliest convenience. For Independent music is the soul of a city and a city such as ours needs its soul to survive…if I may say so.