The Louisiana Budget Project, a left-leaning advocacy group, says in a paper released today that the state should make the film business tax credit incentives less generous over time. “People are getting rich on this deal, and it isn’t Louisiana taxpayers,” says Budget Project Director Jan Moller. “Louisiana needs to limit the cost to taxpayers without pulling the rug out from under the industry.” The program cost $231 million in the just-ended fiscal year and more than $1 billion in the decade since the program was expanded in 2002, LBP says. The group offers multiple recommendations for “reining in the uncontrolled growth of this program, while still giving filmmakers an incentive to choose Louisiana.” Suggestions include lowering the value of the tax credits over a number of years, capping the total amount of tax credits that can be claimed in a fiscal year, and cutting out the middlemen by making the credits non-transferable. “The film production tax credit program was designed to cultivate and sustain a thriving film production industry in Louisiana–and it’s been very successful,” LED Secretary Stephen Moret says. “Louisiana is now No. 3 in the country in film production activity, and the industry supports thousands of jobs in Louisiana that previously did not exist.” —David Jacobs
Editor’s note: This story has been changed since its original publication.
