Monday, February 25, 2013
The Hollywood Tax Story They Won't Tell at the Oscars - WSJ.com
Of course, you already know that real taxpayers get no such break...
In the Wall Street Journal, Glenn Harlan Reynolds writes about it:
"Politicians like to offer this largess because they get photo-ops with celebrities, but the economic payoff is minuscule. George Mason University's Adam Thierer has called this 'a growing cronyism fiasco' and noted that the number of states involved skyrocketed to 45 in 2009 from five in 2002. In its 2012 study 'State Film Studies: Not Much Bang For Too Many Bucks,' the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that film-related jobs tend to go to out-of-staters who jet in, then leave. 'The revenue generated by economic activity induced by film subsidies,' the study notes, 'falls far short of the subsidies' direct costs to the state. To balance its budget, the state must therefore cut spending or raise revenues elsewhere, dampening the subsidies' positive economic impact.'"
