Today, the Assembly and Senate budget committees approved another expansion to the film and television tax credit program. The new legislation facilitates companies in receiving credits and permits film production studios to claim Pennsylvania workers as New Jersey film expenses. Despite evidence suggesting that film tax credit programs provide minimal benefits relative to their costs to the state, this bill further relaxes the requirements for these credits.
In response to this proposed legislation, New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) and the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP) issued a joint statement. Pat Garofalo, State and Local Policy Director at AELP, commented: “The proposed changes to New Jersey’s expensive and wasteful film tax credit program make a bad deal even worse. Many of the film production jobs already go to transient workers from out-of-state. Now, this bill would let production companies claim out-of-state Pennsylvania workers — who pay Pennsylvania income taxes — as though they were New Jersey workers, further blunting any economic benefit to the state.”
Peter Chen, Senior Policy Analyst at NJPP, added: “Diverting tax credits focused on affordable housing to profitable film production studios undermines their original intent and minimizes the public benefits. As each year passes, the film tax credit program continues to be a bad investment for New Jersey.”
For more information on the shortcomings of New Jersey’s film tax credit program, see NJPP and AELP’s joint analysis on film tax credit expansions.
