Subsidy Sheet: ESD Hints at Expanded Broadway Subsidies With Deadline Extension

What’s commonly called the “downstate tax credit” is actually targeted at a very specific sector of downstate: Broadway theatrical productions, which since the pandemic have been eligible to get reimbursed by state taxpayers for up to $3 million apiece in production costs. Last month, the state fund that underwrites the tax credits was reportedly running dry — but now Empire State Development has extended the application deadline from September 15 to October 20, which “allows for a slew of upcoming fall productions to qualify,” reports Broadway News.

What changed? Gov. Hochul has been dumping $100 million a year into the New York City Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit fund, but her last allocation early this year was $100 million to cover the next two years — effectively a 50% cut. League President Jason Laks has said he plans to continue to lobby Albany for continued funding to cover all eligible productions this season, so this may indicate that ESD is anticipating the Albany money tap to reopen for Broadway theaters.

Whether this is a good idea is another story. The tax credit was initially put in place in 2020 to help theaters compensate for loss of business during the pandemic, but has now turned into an ongoing subsidy even as the most recent Broadway season broke revenue and attendance records. Like Hochul’s obsession with providing ever-larger subsidies to film and TV productions despite evidence that most of the money is just going to fund projects that would take place in the state regardless, underwriting Big Theater’s losses when other state needs go wanting is a wasteful use of New York tax dollars.

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More NY corporate giveaway news from this week:

• The New York Power Authority’s focus on promoting green energy doesn’t extend to its top execs, reports LoHud, as the authority “regularly flies its top executives, media personnel and board members to monthly meetings, press conferences and ribbon-cuttings on a $7.5 million plane that burns tens of thousands of gallons of carbon-spewing jet fuel every year.” During one year, NYPA President/CEO Justin Driscoll took 23 flights of less than an hour, including four between Westchester and Albany, a two-hour drive.
• Gov. Hochul’s dream upstate nuclear power facility may not be the only nuke plant to be greenlit to meet the soaring electricity needs of data centers: Indian Point owner Holtec International is now saying it’s “possible” the shuttered facility could be put back in operation. At least it’ll totally be worth it!

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