Who wins, when Batman fights Superman? Not Michigan taxpayers. Warner Bros. studios has decided to shoot its sequel to 2013’s
superhero film “Man of Steel” in Detroit, taking advantage of a generous
incentive program that awards subsidies to films produced in the state.
Taxpayers will dole out $35 million for the film, and generate
$131 million in economic gains for the state, according to the Michigan Film Office…..Michael
La Faive, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy,
said the subsidy’s supporters neglected to consider the full cost of the
program.
“If you were to factor the cost of the subsidy into the equation,
it would be zero if not negative impact,”…..Defenders of the film incentive
insist that an economic multiplier magnifies the gains from spending money on
movies. But they neglect to multiply the loss of economic activity that would
have resulted had taxpayers been free to spend their film subsidy money
elsewhere.
This is not uncommon for film incentive programs, which have
become increasingly popular around the country in the last decade, said La
Faive. “There’s no film program to my knowledge in the country that has
returned to taxpayers more than it has taken,” he said…..To Read More….
My Take - As
my regular readers will remember I took the position that this 'incentive'
horsepucky was completely shortsighted on this August 26th post, L.A.
Mayor Declares State of ‘Emergency’ As Movie, TV Production Flees Hollywood,
but Ted Johnson.
At that time I stated;
“Personally....I
think the whole bunch of them are nuts, including these governors and
legislatures that are doing everything in their power to entice movie
production to their states. Cleveland has been the recipient of a few of these
in the last few years, and just this year they tied up big chunks of
Cleveland's streets filming a Captain America sequel for a couple of weeks and
then.....left! Was it worth it? I don't think so because all these incentives
are nothing more than the government forcing the citizenry to fund movie makers
in return for a small short term gain.
I would rather have
one factory open in Cleveland – one that would be pouring money into Ohio’s
economic base daily, weekly, monthly and yearly generating opportunities for
other businesses. Companies are created where the tax and regulatory climate is
favorable to business. Instead, what do they do? They create a temporary tax
and regulatory shelter that will not be of any long term financial help to the
people of Cleveland or Ohio.
I especially resent it when
government creates incentives to keep businesses in Ohio as Governor Kasich did
to keep American Greetings, Diebold, Bob Evans here in Ohio. In the real world
the overall business climate is the Petri dish for new growth, not
individualized special privileges to a select few. By giving these companies
these breaks they are in effect forcing their competition to fund them. I think
that’s outrageous.
Shouldn’t this have
been obvious to the most casual observer?
Without seeing one iota of data
I knew this was a loser for these states.
Why? Because the patterns of life
repeat over and over again! One nice
little influx of money will not make a local economy, and as it turns out….it
probably is a net loss.
As for Hollywood; they have no loyalty to
anyone or anything except profits.
Remember, they’re having some serious problems as shown in this June 21st
post Hollywood Goes
Bankrupt. They could care less about
you. Let’s try and get this once and for all……it is now and always has been all
about them and their money.
The same people
that decry the income made by industries that actually produce something
creating opportunities for families all over the world, calling them greedy and
selfish, have no qualms about feeding at the public feeding trough in order to
enhance their profits. Hollywood is
filled with corrupt, self-absorbed hypocrites.
And because of the idiotic positions they take on social issues; a big chunk of them have earned the right to be installed in the Club For The Galacticly Stupid!
Have a good weekend!
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