Comments about ‘Making movies: Incentives provide boost to Utah's film industry’

Didn't a lot of the money for those incentives come from the stimulus bill? Will Herbert thank Obama for that?

If offering incentives works for the film industry, what other industries could we attract by giving them similar incentives?

To "perhaps" no, none of the money for the incentives came from the stimulus bill, this program predates the stimulus. The incentives are in terms of tax breaks or credits. In other words, we collect less in sales taxes from the production companies. But that is really ok because we are able to turn around and employ people and get tax money from their salaries and what they spend as individuals.

Redshirt, you are mistaken about how the film incentive works. Utah's film credits are fully refundable, which means the state writes a check for 25% of the money spent in Utah. You are not collecting less in taxes, you are paying out that money and subsidizing the budget. I kid you not, that is literally how the program works.

On one hand, you've got the state. They incentivize film companies to shoot in Utah by lowering their costs, which in turn creates jobs, which in turn creates more tax revenues and it's a win/win. The state is run by Republicans.

On the other hand, you've got Salt Lake City. They discourage people from shopping downtown by raising their costs (charging for parking), which in turn costs jobs, which in turn creates less tax revenues and it's a lose/lose. Salt Lake City is run by Democrats.

So ask yourself: In these perilous economic times, why would anyone even consider voting Democrat?

Every city and state in the country uses similar incentives, so it really doesn't give you much of an advantage. You need to offer them just to stay in the game.

The problem with film incentives of this size and scope is that they do not pay for themselves. Sure, people who work on films spend their money and pay taxes, but the wages they make on an incentivized project are subsidized by 25%. For a $100k working on a film paid to a worker, Utah refunds $25,000 in cash back to the production company. Unless the Utah income tax rate is 25%, it's not mathematically possible to even break even.

Sorry Redshirt, but Utah did use $15 million in stimulus funds this way. A google search for "stimulus funds utah film" (without the quotation marks) will get you to a couple links about it. If Herbert wants to brag about how Utah spent stimulus money he should pose for a picture with the President while he does it.