re: WSJ major opinion piece on film industry welfare--quotes Jindal

quote:

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o 40mm is the number?

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40mm is not the number. The tax credit program is an accounting scheme set up to bypass the normal process of legislative appropriations. They could technically "spend" nothing and it would still be a subsidy. They're counting on simple people to assume that tax credits are the same as a tax break which is a just lessening the tax burden of a specific industry or individual entity. They're totally different things and tax credits go way beyond just not collecting tax. They're a mechanism of wealth redistribution.

Put it to you this way: I will owe $4k in state taxes this yea r. How about we work out a deal where I promise to pay $10k in taxes instead and you give me $5 billion in tax credits in return.

billions of dollars is injected into the states economy because I will spend it. Plus, the state gets an extra $6k from me. The state technically pays NOTHING. That's right, its of no cost to the state.

Tell me why this is a bad idea.