Subsidy Sheet: There’s nothing politicians like more than jocks and movie stars. Plus, $2B in Micron tax breaks.

Despite overwhelming evidence that states lose money when they subsidize film and TV shoots, the practice of shelling out what are functionally taxpayer grants (technically reimbursable “tax credits”) to big corporate film and TV productions continues to accelerate: 38 states now offer some kind of film and TV subsidy, California recently massively increased its payments to producers, and Nevada is reportedly considering jumping in with a new program. There’s even talk of federal funding in the works, something that would inevitably end up using Americans’ tax dollars to pay to move TV and film production from one state to another.

J.C. Bradbury has been following these payouts for years, both in his work as an economics professor at Kennesaw State University and in his time serving on the Development Authority of Cobb County in Atlanta’s eastern suburbs. He’s come away convinced of two things: film and TV subsidies are one of the biggest current wastes of state tax money; and without a concerted push by the public to end this practice, state lawmakers are going to keep throwing good money after bad.

Much like sports subsidies, says Bradbury, independent economic studies agree that film and TV subsidies are an ineffective way to create jobs and promote economic growth, especially since much of the money spent on film and TV leaves the state along with the workers who arrived to do it. “I’m not aware of any study that has found any economic impact” from production incentives, he says. The impact is even worse in a state like New York, which will always retain some film and TV work because studios want to shoot on location or take advantage of the state’s large supply of actors and behind-the-camera talent. 

Where it’s different from other subsidies, Bradbury says, is in the scale of the public expense. Whereas a single sports stadium can cost a state around a billion dollars in tax money, “Georgia spends about a billion dollars on film subsidies every year. So it’s a pretty big problem, and because you have an arms race over where to film, a lot of states will keep on upping their subsidies.”

States have occasionally moved to scale back production reimbursements after seeing their massive costs, he notes. But even then, film subsidies — and the lobbyists who push for them — are so entrenched that they invariably rise from the dead.

“The reason why it goes to film subsidies more than anybody else is you can bring in a movie star to shake hands with local legislators,” Bradbury concludes. “There’s nothing politicians like more than jocks and movie stars.”

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More NY corporate giveaway news from this week:

• Micron’s planned chip plant outside Syracuse got another two boosts from state taxpayers this week, as the Onondaga County IDA voted on a $2 billion abatement of state and local sales taxes, while the New York State Public Service Commission approved building a two-mile-long underground power line to feed the semiconductor factory with electricity. Gov. Hochul’s statement announcing the deal didn’t include a price tag for the new power line. It’s hard to know exactly how much in public investment Micron’s Clay/Syracuse fab will get given the billions of dollars in reimbursements, tax-breaks, roads, and discounted electric bills Micron is already set to receive.
• Not to be left out completely, Alcoa’s aluminum plant in Massena near the Canadian border will be getting discounted electricity from the state for the next ten years, with options to extend the deal for another ten, to “preserve” 500 jobs there. Alcoa is also set to receive $6 million from Empire State Development to help rebuild its anode baking furnace; Alcoa CEO William Oplinger declared himself in a statement to be “extremely pleased,” which is apparently his way of thanking New York taxpayers for helping boost his company’s profits, which were $232 million for the most recent quarter.

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