No Place Like Home (for a Congressional Tax Break)
Originally implemented in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 in order to keep film production from moving overseas, “Section 181” makes the first $15 million to $20 million of a production budget entirely tax deductible. To qualify, 75 percent of filming must be performed in the U.S. It expired in 2008, but was renewed in the tax bill passed by Congress last December.
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By SARAH
STODOLA, The Fiscal Times
February 26,2011
Big money goes into the movies that will be celebrated at Sunday’s Academy Awards – in 2007, the average Hollywood production cost over $106 million. What’s lesser known is that a good chunk of that funding comes from the government, which often sees film production as an attractive way to pump money into its economy. Click through the slideshow above to see eight ways that your tax dollars subsidize the film industry. Too bad you don’t get a percent of the gross in return.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
, photo: Columbia Pictures