Eady Levy
The Eady Levy was a tax on
Background
A levy was first proposed by Harold Wilson, then president of the Board of Trade, in 1949. The levy was intended to assist producers of British films. A direct governmental payment to British-based producers would have qualified as a subsidy under the terms of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and would have led to objections from American film producers. An indirect levy did not qualify as a subsidy, and so was a suitable way of providing additional funding for the UK film industry whilst avoiding criticism from abroad.
Establishment
The Eady Levy came into effect on 9 September 1950 on a voluntary basis to subsidize British film producers.[1] In 1953, the UK Government indicated it would legislate if the exhibitors did not agree to continue the voluntary agreement.[1] It was not established on a statutory basis until its incorporation in the Cinematograph Films Act 1957.
In the Eady Levy, a proportion of the ticket price was to be pooled – half to be retained by exhibitors (i.e. effectively a
To qualify as a British film, a minimum of 85% of the film had to be shot in the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth, and only three non-British individual salaries could be excluded from the costs of the film, ensuring the employment of British actors, technicians and film crew.[2]
In the first year, the levy was one quarter of a penny (1⁄4d) per ticket sold and raised $3 million;[1] in the second year the levy was tripled for ticket prices over 12 pence (12d) to (3⁄4d) to raise £3 million ($8.4 million) per annum.[1]
Year | Min. ticket price | Levy |
---|---|---|
1950 | any | 1⁄4d. |
1951 | 3d. | 1⁄4d. |
12d. | 3⁄4d. | |
1957 | 10d. | 1⁄4d. |
13d. | ½d | |
14½d. | 3⁄4d. | |
16d. | 1d. | |
17½d. | 11⁄4d. | |
19d. | 1½d | |
21½d. | 13⁄4d. | |
1960 | 11d. | 1⁄9 excess[n 1]) |
1968 | 18d. (7½p[n 2]) | |
1977 | 12½p | |
1978 | 17½p | |
1979 | any | 1⁄12 full price |
- Note
- ^ i.e. one-ninth of the portion of the ticket price above the minimum price.
- introduced in 1971.
Impact
The levy had the effect of both assisting the film industry, and reducing the effect of entertainment tax on film exhibition, to which all the cinema industry was opposed.
The rise in British cinema (including the
It was not only American film makers who came; a number of distinguished European directors also made films in Britain. These included Roman Polanski, François Truffaut (who made Fahrenheit 451 at Pinewood Studios and on location in London and Berkshire) and Jean-Luc Godard.
The Eady Levy also provided funding for the National Film and Television School, which trained a number of directors and actors still in work today.
Termination
The Eady Levy was intended to support UK film production. However, in a
See also
References
Sources
- Fenwick, James (2017). "The Eady Levy,'The Envy of Most Other European Nations': Runaway Productions and the British Film Fund in the early 1960s.". In Hunter, I.Q.; Porter, Laraine; Smith, Justin (eds.). The Routledge Companion to British Cinema History. pp. 191–199. ISBN 9781315392172.
- Magor, Maggie; Schlesinger, Philip (Autumn 2009). "'For this relief much thanks.' Taxation, film policy and the UK government". Screen. 50 (3): 299–307: 302–303. – via Internet Archive.
- Oakley, Charles Allen (2013) [1964]. Where we Came In: Seventy Years of the British Film Industry. Routledge. pp. 27, 29, 197-. ISBN 9781317928676. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- Romer, Stephen (1993). The decline of the British film industry: an analysis of market structure, the firm and product competition (PDF) (PhD). Brunel University. pp. 77–86. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- Stubbs, Jonathan (May 2009). "The Eady Levy: A Runaway Bribe? Hollywood Production and British Subsidy in the Early 1960s". Journal of British Cinema and Television. 6 (1): 1–20. . Retrieved 27 July 2019.
Citations
- ^ Archive.org.
- ISBN 978-0-299-22640-4.
- ^ Romer 1993 Table 12(a)
- OCLC 11661469.
- ^ "UK cinema admissions 1935 to date". Launching Films. Film Distributors' Association Ltd. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- ^ "UK media laws: Cinema and films Films Act 1985". TerraMedia. Retrieved 2 September 2019.