Yelling ‘Cut’

8/27/18
 
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from CFACT,
8/27/18:

What to Know: More and more states are finding that tax breaks for movie and television productions are bad investments.

“As fans prepare for the series finale of Nashville, The Beacon Center of Tennessee has released a report highlighting the costs of film incentives,” Nashville Scene reports. “The nonprofit, libertarian-leaning think tank’s report argues to Nashville fans and Nashville residents that the end of the show is a positive development when it comes to taxes. ‘Calling Cut on Film Incentives’ covers all of Tennessee’s film incentive recipients, but Nashville bears the brunt of the report, which cites the show’s $45 million in state incentives — the most taxpayer money of any project.”

The TPPF Take: Taxpayer funding shouldn’t play a role in private movie and television projects.

“According to the report, 40 percent of the projects subsidized in Tennessee have made less at the box office than they received in subsidies,” points out TPPF’s Carine Martinez-Gouhier. “Several subsidized TV shows had only a few episodes broadcast. The real losers here are the taxpayers.”

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