Receipts

Public schools and community colleges are likely to be the big winners as the result of the disclosure Thursday that state personal and corporate income tax collections are going to be an estimated $660 million higher this year than previously projected. State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said that schools should be in line to receive about 40% of the total, or $264 million. The guarantee of 40% of the money stems from voter approval last November of Proposition 98, the school funding initiative.

In the debate over who should be the next mayor of Los Angeles, who would you suppose argues for elimination of a business tax to kick-start economic growth? Not the one-time investment banker who dropped out of the race early and says killing the business tax would leave a huge hole in the city treasury. Not the lone Republican in the field, who wants more modest business tax reform. Not a City Council fiscal hawk, also a candidate for mayor, who says cutting the tax could leave the city with a $400-million shortfall.

Although the domestic box office continues to struggle, movie ticket sales in China are booming. Nearly final government figures in the world's most populous nation show receipts probably will grow more than 30% in 2011 and, for the first time, exceed $2 billion. That probably will make China the world's third-biggest movie market, behind only the U.S. and Japan. Although some other nations are growing fast — Brazil, for example, is up 14% this year, according to Rentrak Corp.

Batman, James Bond, teenage vampires and a team of superheroes helped propel domestic movie ticket sales in 2012 to a projected all-time high of $10.8 billion, reversing a slump that saw attendance drop to a 16-year low last year. Box-office receipts are likely to be up 6% compared with last year, as is attendance, which is on track to hit 1.36 billion, according to Hollywood.com. That's much-needed good news for the film business, though this year's attendance figure is far from record-breaking - in 2002, 1.6 billion showed up at the box office.

Let's hope Pete Rozelle saved his receipts for those walkie-talkies he gave the referees. CLINT HOWARD Burbank

This report is based on projections of total U.S. box-office gross from a consensus of industry sources and studio financial models. The U.S. returns represent only 20% of a film's final revenue, which includes income from video, TV and overseas theatrical release. Typical industry marketing costs are factored into this profit analysis. Results for the weekend of July 7-9: $$Mega-Moneymakers ($50 million or more in profit) -- Box- Estimated office cost, in Movie title Studio rank millions Mission: Impossible 2 Paramount 11 $100 Gladiator DreamWorks/Univ.

I arrived from Hong Kong on June 9. The article by Beverly Beyer and Ed Rabey that day didn't mention that the Sheridan Hotel across from the Peninsula is good. Has just had a $17-million restoration. Also, the exit fee to leave Hong Kong is $120HK. I went through customs in Honolulu. It was the worst experience I've ever had. The officer went through my purse, every check I'd written, every Visa receipt, my wallet, and all my other receipts, as well as a thorough search of my suitcase and carrying bag. I would advise everyone to send their Visa receipts and checkbooks home by mail, as it takes so much time.

Allowing two tickets per ID would definitely sell more tickets, but some would be bought by brokers and defeat the purpose of this wonderful plan. The problem in the plan was allowing only 24 hours to purchase. Had tickets (or receipts) been available three to seven days in advance, the show surely would have sold out without Ticketmaster's services. LONNA GARDINER Northridge

Venant's interesting article contained a passing reference to the Sunday fund-raising dinners I organize that needs to be corrected. She implies that the money goes into my pocket and not to intellectuals in Poland. For over five years, with a lot of help from my friends, I have been sending food, clothes and medicine to Poland. And I have the receipts. If anyone in L.A. would like to help, I can pass names and addresses of people in Poland to anyone interested. JIM HAYNES Atelier A2 83 rue de la Tombe Issoire 75014 Paris, France

I would like to alert shoppers traveling to the Republic of Ireland to a nuance in retrieving VATs (value added taxes). The forms were available everywhere I shopped on my recent trip. I saved all receipts, filling out a form for each shop visited. In small print on the forms, it mentioned a service charge. What it did not spell out is that the charge is for each receipt. After all was totaled at Shannon Airport, I was handed about $3. Had I known, I would have done more shopping at fewer places.

Three women who dined at Chilly D's Sports Lounge in Stockton, Calif., received a bill identifying them as "fat girls," and a server at the restaurant located inside the Cameo Club Casino has been suspended, says Fox News. The women had dinner at Chilly D's last week and were shocked to see that "fat girls" had been typed in on the receipt by a restaurant staffer, according to the report.    "I got the bill, and I was like, 'Why does the receipt say fat girls?'" said one of the diners, Christina Duran.

Opening their doors earlier than ever for Black Friday paid off for retailers as shoppers mobbed malls thick with sales across the Southland, snapping up electronics, toys and other deals. Hundreds of bargain hunters surged toward the Glendale Galleria before midnight, some banging on one entrance and shouting to be let in. At the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, shoppers rushing into Urban Outfitters shattered a glass door. Mall traffic was a nightmare throughout Southern California.

Liam Neeson wouldn't let anyone take No. 1 from him at the box office this past weekend in the U.S. or overseas. "Taken 2," the kidnapping thriller starring the 60-year-old actor, dominated international ticket sales, raking in $41 million from 59 foreign markets. Overall, the movie has sold $132.8-million worth of receipts abroad - already far more than the $81.8 million the original "Taken" collected internationally in 2009. The movie, which sees Neeson's former CIA operative taken captive, is performing best in the United Kingdom, where it has grossed $23.4 million.

"The Dark Knight Rises" may have soared to the top of the box office for the second consecutive weekend, but the Batman film is still falling behind its predecessor. The final installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy saw its ticket sales tumble 60% to $64.1 million during its second weekend in theaters, according to an estimate Sunday from distributorWarner Bros. The film has now collected $289.1 million in the United States and Canada - roughly $25 million less than "The Dark Knight" made during the same time period in 2008 despite lower ticket prices.

Hoping to lure car dealerships back to Los Angeles, the City Council voted Tuesday to eliminate the business tax for new auto dealers. Dealerships are sought after by cities because they generate substantial sales tax revenue. But officials say nearly 100 dealerships have left L.A. over the last 25 years, with some businesses migrating to nearby cities such as Glendale, which exempts them from the gross-receipts tax. "For too long, Los Angeles' business tax has driven auto dealers outside the city limits," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement released after the 12-0 council vote.

A one-page document signed by Polish composer and pianist Frederic Chopin is on the auction block through Wednesday and has proved more popular with bidders than anticipated. The document , a receipt dated March 1840, is for the sale of the copyrights to his compositions Grande Valse brillante Opus 42 and Quatre Mazurkas, Op. 41, sold for 16 pounds to a music publishing company in London. The document, being sold by a private collector, was expected to fetch $10,000 to $15,000.

By all accounts, West Hollywood showered its employees with generosity. The city spent $2,070 at the Beverly Center for six Montblanc pens, given to workers who had reached employment milestones. An additional $1,500 went to Gelson's Market gift cards for city employees. One credit card in the city manager's office, used by various employees, accumulated $121,000 over three years. Then there were the meals. Receipts show that one city councilman, John Duran, charged dozens of meals, often multiple times a week.

Even as domestic ticket sales stalled last year, the international movie business climbed to new heights. A report released Thursday by the Motion Picture Assn. of America states that global box-office receipts for all films released around the world in 2011 reached $32.6 billion, up 3% over 2010 and 35% higher than five years ago. The rise in global ticket sales reflects the rapid growth in overseas markets, particularly in China, where the box office grew by a whopping 35% to $2 billion in 2011 alone, according to the MPAA.