Poor, impoverished, Hollywood is feeling the heat - starts begging for tax breaks

If Washington D.C. wasn't the progressive tax-and-spend Mecca, that honor would surely go to Hollywood. A playground for the luminaries of the liberal left, Tinseltown has become the center of all things "big government." For the kooky statists who call the town home, there is no social program too expensive and no law too invasive or egregious - as long as it was signed by a President with a "D" after his name. They're as far-left as they can be, and they just love to preach.

In fact, they love it almost as much as they love money. Even in the movie industry, the bottom line matters. No matter how much of a Democrat zealot you are, money trumps all. Maybe that's why a movie industry advocacy group named Film Works is demanding California's liberal overlords maintain current tax breaks and cough up a few new ones. Otherwise, they warn, the state will lose its favorite industry.

Out-of-state tax credits had a devastating effect on California as film and television productions were sucked out of the state economy at astonishing rates. Producers would have been fiscally irresponsible to ignore the cost savings they could achieve by filming in Canada. In a few short years, the number of Canadians employed by runaway productions doubled from 25,500 to over 53,000 as spending soared. The spectacular success of Canada's effort was quickly copied around the world and today, more than 44 U.S. states also compete to get a piece of the pie. Each year, billions of dollars in film production spending is enjoyed by California's competitors. Just six locations (Vancouver, Toronto, Louisiana, Georgia, New Mexico, Massachusetts) that offer film incentives captured $3.2 billion in direct production spending in 2010 alone. Historically, much of that spending occurred in California.

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In the past, many factors contributed to runaway production and, regrettably, this has blinded many in the state to the current reality. Since the late 1990′s, film incentives have been the predominant factor causing runaway production. For example, the year before Louisiana enacted its inventive (2002), production spending there was just $3.5 million; in 2010, it was over $674 million, which represents a mind blowing 19,000 percent increase. It seems that these people have - sort of - discovered something. Heavy taxation drives business away. For conservatives, that's a no-brainer. For liberals, it's an argument they despise above all others. A: because they can't refute it, and B: because it's so damaging to virtually every one of their state-based goals. Now, these are Hollywood-types we're talking about, so they're not making the logical jump and demand that California address its real problem. The state is over-taxing every person and industry in a failing effort to shore up a raft of unsustainable social programs. People are moving away in droves. Business is going with them. Film Works doesn't appear to be interested in reversing that trend. They're not advocating sustainability, austerity, or across-the-board tax cuts that would bring people back to the state. They don't care about a fix that would help their industry and everyone else. Obviously, most profitable companies are still evil, and the government still needs to punish them for their success. What the group wants is tax breaks - for the movie industry only.

in 2009, California enacted a Film & Television Tax Credit Program to help defend the state from runaway production. Guess what happened next? In 2010, the decline in on-location feature filming in L.A. reversed after four straight years of decline. Feature film (movie) production days were still down 62% from their high in 1996 (this is up slightly from its record low the year prior). Had incentivized films not accounted for 26% of all Feature activity, 2010 would have been the worst year on record for the L.A. region. The California Film & Television Tax Credit is not a “tax loophole.” It is California’s only means of protecting its vital economic engine — the entertainment industry.

Hollywood, you see, is special. They want the state to continue and/or expand its practice of taking taxpayer money and giving it to filmmakers to incentivize local production. The problem with that line of thinking is that it was never government's job to pick which industries win or lose in the first place. What Film Works should be fighting for is an end to California's fiscal self-destruction. Instead of watching them campaign for the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, and Jerry Brown, tell your stars to get on board and save their industry. Rein-in the out-of-control Democrats that are killing the West Coast economy, and more productions will stay local. Keep taxing Californians into oblivion, and the studios will head for greener pastures. It's just that simple. Last year, Hollywood set an all-time record, taking in a staggering $10.9 billion at the box office. They did so while producing a hypocritical product that is a near endless litany of left-wing life lessons, all designed to teach you how a bunch of monstrous corporate fatcats are exploiting you and making too much money. That they're demanding taxpayer handouts - in any state - is ridiculous. So, which is it Hollywood? Is this supposed "corporate greed" the root of all evil, or is something that should be taxpayer subsidized? Looks like it's time to make some tough decisions. Politics, or self-preservation?