UK entertainments tax

In 1916 the UK government imposed an entertainments tax in the Finance (New Duties) Act ss1-2 and the Finance Act s12..
        On cheaper cinema seats the flat rate of tax represented a high proportion of the ticket price. Vigorous protests by the industry led in 1920 to a reduction in the flat rates but not the abolition of the tax that was being demanded. Nonetheless, the proportion remained very high: on a 4½d ticket, the tax was 2d. Because of the stepped rates of tax, by the 1940s the tax on some popular ticket prices was greater than the net price of the ticket (eg, 2s tax on a 1s 10d admission charge).

	net seat price up to	tax
1916	2d or less	½d
	over 2d to 6d	1d
	over 6d to 2s 6d	2d
	over 2s 6d to 5s	3d
	over 5s to 7s 6d	6d
	over 7s 6d to 12s 6d	1s
	over 12s 6d	1s + 1s for every further 10s or part thereof
1920	2d or less	nil
	over 2d to 2½d	½d
	over 2½d to 4d	1d
	over 4d to 7d	2d
1924	6d	no tax
	1s 3d	some reductions
1930	6d or less	no tax
	7d	1d
	8d	1½d
	over 8d to 1s 1d	2d
	over 1s 1d to 1s 3d	3d
	over 1s 3d to 2s	4d
	over 2s to 3s	6d
	over 3s to 5s	9d
	over 5s to 7s 6d	1s
	over 7s 6d to 10s 6d	1s 6d
	over 10s 6d to 15s	2s
1935	up to 3d	nil
	over 3d to 5d	½d
	over 5d to 6¼d	¾d
	over 6¼d to 7d	1d
	over 7d to 7¾d	1¼d
	over 7¾d to 8¾d	2d
	over 8¾d to 11d	3d
	over 11d to 1s 2d	4d
	over 1s 2d to 1s 5d	5d
	over 1s 5d	5d + 2d for every 6d pr part of 6d over 1s 5d
1939	6d to 1s 0d	nil
	over 1s 0d to 1s 3d	2d
	over 1s 3d to 1s 9d	2½d
	over 1s 9d to 2s	4d
	over 2s	4d
1949	8d to 1s 3d	1½d
	over 1s 3d to 1s 9d	5d
	over 1s 9d to 2s 6d	8½d
	over 2s 6d to 2s 9d	1s 1d
	over 2s 9d	1s 1d
1950	8d to 1s 6d	1d
	over 1s 6d to 1s 9d	4½d
	over 1s 9d to 2s 6d	8d
	over 2s 6d to 2s 9d	1s 0½d
	over 2s 9d	1s 1d

Source: Kine Year Books

Penalties for non-payment were hefty: £50 for the exhibitor and £5 for the person admitted.
The yield for the Treasury was considerable. From 1945's gross box office revenue of £115m, $41m went on the tax, compared with the £17m taken by American film companies. Although the tax applied to other forms of entertainment, the cinema yielded 93 per cent of total tax receipts at the end of the war.
        The protests continued, as did the tax. In 1949, J Arthur Rank, the most powerful figure in the UK film industry, announced that production would be cut and would cease altogether after June 1950 unless the duty was reduced. Changes were made in conjunction with the introduction of the Eady levy. The tax was finally abolished in 1960.

These stubs, showing a 2d Entertainments Tax stamp stuck to the back of the tickets, were found recently behind the skirting board in the WAAF quarters of an RAF camp in East Anglia. They appear to date from the 1940s. [Thanks to David Powell for sending them.]

UK cinema entertainments tax payments
Media law index