Cinema Ticket IVA Discount Questioned

The FACUA consumer group has asked the Minister of Culture and Sports, José Guirao, to hold a meeting to discuss the price of cinema tickets, after the government reduced IVA (VAT) from 21% to 10%.

The group are insisting that it is the cinema visitors who are still missing out and the cinemas themselves profiting from the discount.

Guirao has already announced that he will hold a meeting with cinema management companies to ask them to explain why the IVA rebate is not affecting the price of the tickets.

The association carried out a study in August to review the pricing of tickets at 102 cinemas in 45 Spanish cities, which resulted in tem concluding that only 33, around a third, had passed down the IVA discount to the consumer.

Of the rest, 36 have not reduced the final price, and 4 even increased the fee, whereas another 33 did reduce the ticket but not enough in terms of the IVA discount.

The association has also submitted its report to the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) in order to open an investigation to try to determine if the hidden increases in which most of the cinemas have incurred represent practices that violate competition laws.

The group also praised the current government, led by the socialist Pedro Sánchez, for reducing the IVA on tickets, after the PP government of Mariano Rajoy increased in back in 2012.