During exceptionally difficult fiscal times like these, when many jobs are being lost and New York families are suffering tremendously from the national economic downturn, all of us in government must think long and hard about making thoughtful investments in New York State that will provide significant returns aimed at helping our economy recover and prosper.
To my mind, one of these thoughtful investments is the Empire State Film Production Tax Credit, which was first enacted in 2004 to provide a 10 percent tax credit for certain television and film production costs, and expanded last year to provide a 30 percent tax break.
This program, which was meant to run through 2013, has been so successful that it has now depleted its funding and has been suspended. As the Senate representative of an area in Queens that is home both to Silvercup Studios and Kaufman-Astoria Studios, I am strongly urging the Governor and my legislative colleagues to provide funding to continue this very valuable program, which has provided significant economic and job benefits to New York State.
The tax credit program, particularly in concert with a similar New York City film production tax break, has greatly encouraged economic activity in the film industry. This activity, in turn, has provided jobs and resulted in a positive impact on other businesses in the city and state that serve production companies – from restaurants, to paint stores, to lumber stores and many other entities in between.
A recent study prepared by Ernst and Young for the Motion Picture Association of America and New York State’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development, said that the state and city film credits could keep or create about 19,500 jobs while yielding some $404 million in tax revenue at a cost of only $215 million in tax credits.
Clearly, this program more than pays for itself.
In addition, New York City officials involved in the film production industry say that the state and city tax incentives combined have spawned some $2.5 billion in new business, and other reports say that employment in the film production sector increased by almost 12 percent in the first 11 months of 2008, the largest percentage job spike of any industry in New York City.
Since the film production tax credit programs were enacted, New York has seen a great surge in new television, motion picture and commercial filming. According to the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting, there were 14,858 New York City location shooting days in 2002. In 2008, city location shooting days grew to more than 27,250 days – an increase directly related to the success of the film production tax incentives.
Although we are clearly facing an economic crisis of very dire proportions that will require very hard decisions and shared sacrifice to move New York forward into a more hopeful and prosperous future, I strongly believe that a continued commitment to New York’s film production tax credit program is vital to achieving this goal. As negotiations on the 2009-2010 State Budget go forward, I have identified new support for this very successful program as one of my top priorities.
In the end, providing new funding for the film production tax credit program is saying Lights, Camera and Action for a brighter and more prosperous New York economy.
State Senator George Onorato represents the 12th Senate District in Queens.
