re: Louisiana: Repeal of film credit fails again, along with income tax reduction

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Shouldn't the bigger story here be that YET AGAIN the legislature failed to reduce our income tax? Something that was promised to be done when the state approved Landry's tax swop earlier this year?

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They were already reduced from 6% to 3% for anyone making over $50,000 annually. I’m not one to turn down another tax reduction, but let’s not pretend that most of us didn’t already get a 50% reduction in state income taxes.

The movie industry employs tradesmen including carpenters, electricians, commercial drivers, caterers, and a lot of other folks. That's actually a pretty good use of a tax credit because of where the money actually flows.

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I see nothing wrong with using tax credits to bring jobs to Louisiana.

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I’ve always thought we should give tax credits to oncologist and certain cancer research centers.

1. It would hopefully attract doctors to move here. That trickles down to hiring nurses, staff and they have money to spend at restaurants and other services they use.
2. Doctors typically prioritize their kids education. That makes our state less dumb.
3. We have cancer alley, why not bring people here to treat and research on it?

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It is not the role of the government to pick winners and losers. Tax credits targeted towards certain industries is doing just that.

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I respect the theory of your opinion, but the fact is that if Louisiana doesn’t do it, other states will, and those credits make a difference to businesses. They will factor them into their plans. It’s a don’t hate the player, hate the game situation

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Even if a good portion of it is to fund the salaries of out of state millionaires and the jobs created pay a pittance?

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The salaries are a very short sighted way of looking at it. They are injecting millions of dollars from outside of the area into the local economy that would otherwise be spent elsewhere.

Using rough numbers from the article there are $125MM in tax credits per year. If the credits are a 40% rebate for money spent in LA then it can be assumed that the movie industry injects $300MM into the state of LA's economy each year.

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Nobody’s making movies here anymore so who cares?

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That is true. Almost nobody is making movies anywhere in America. The previous administration helped the unions strong arm the MPA into a contract that made domestic film production cost prohibitive.

I know a lot of local crew who have not worked in film since late 2023.

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The rebates are between 85 and 90 per cent.

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Article states 40%. I have no idea if you or the article are correct.

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The motion picture production tax credit, in place since 2002, offers up to 40% in rebates for in-state expenditures by film and TV productions, with additional incentives for employing Louisiana residents or investing in rural areas. Louisiana Economic Development has reported that the program issued over $500 million in credits since 2018.

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There have been numerous studies including one by the State Auditor that the state gets z return of 25 cents on the dollar.

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I take studies with a "grain of salt" because they can always be manipulated based on assumptions and desired outcomes.

Do the studies take into following revenue generated from:

Sales tax on items purchased for production
Sales tax on private money spent by those that temporarily relocate here for the project
Hotel occupancy taxes
Gasoline tax
Income tax
Vehicle rentals

Do they take into consideration indirect residual revenue such as increased tourism?
Do they take into consideration additional income or sales taxes each time money exchanges hands once its been injected into the economy?

If so how do they accurately measure these . . . That's right assumptions.

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I’ll go with studies made by the Legislative Auditor over some random poster on a message board every time.

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Ones probably an idiot and the other is probably corrupt and/or incompetent

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Almost nobody is making movies anywhere in America.

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“Hold my beer”
- New Jersey

Again, ebbs and flows. The markets tank and rebound. The business is fickle.