Tax Proposed on Popcorn and Candy in D.C. Movie Theaters

The calories might be empty, but the price of popcorn in the District could get a little heavier.

Mayor Vincent Gray has floated a plan to levy a 5 percent sales tax on popcorn, Junior Mints, M&M's and any other concessions sold at District movie theaters, the Washington Business Journal reports.

From the paper:

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray is proposing an additional 5 percent sales tax on movie theater concessions, using the new revenue in two ways — as an incentive for someone to open a movie theater east of the Anacostia River, and, more generally, to lure production companies to film in the District.

Three-quarters of the income from the tax would go towards new theaters in the Southeast, and the other 25 percent would be used to offer incentives to film productions in the District.

The proposed bill would  reduce the overall tax incentives to filmmakers who shoot in the city, which currently comes from other sources.  The current incentives would be replaced with 25 percent of the money raised by the new proposed popcorn tax.

Mayor Gray's administration has placed an emphasis on working with the District's Office of Motion Picture and Television Development to bring more TV and film production to the D.C.