re: La. issued 251 million in tax credits in 2013.

quote:

---

This is so far from the worst way the state spends our money. There are actually good outcomes to this expenditure.

---

I called out IB in the last thread, and got pointed to some really good breakdowns of this. IB has some very valid points. A couple of things:
- There isn't really any quantifiable numbers on the ancillary industries that have popped up to support the film industry, although I think its not bad numbers.
- The issue with "tax credits" is that they aren't really "tax credits." They are subsidies.
- Louisiana gives these to the film on roughly 30% of all costs. They can then sell them on a market, or sell them back to the state.
- There is no limit to the amount of money Louisiana would have to shell out for these subsidies. The state cut a check for a quarter of a billion dollars last year to Hollywood in the form of direct reimbursement for tax credits sold back to the state.
- Imagine if we get a bunch of summer blockbusters filmed here. Green Lantern had a production cost of $333 Million in LA of which roughly 30% was cut back to them (it was a little less, like $88m). Imagine if we had three or four of those all at the same time. The state could easily cut a check for almost a Billion dollars in short order. Billion. With a B.

So you have to decide: are the states expendetures for this worth it? What would the state do with $250m to bring as much positive PR along with jobs/industries that comes with the film industry? What happens if that number gets over $500m? $1 Billion?