Yes, this is good news for Wisconsin. It's also somewhat of an embarrassment for the high tax crowd.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Two movies and two film-related companies are taking advantage of new state tax incentives, Lt. Gov. Barb Lawton said Tuesday after returning from the Sundance Film Festival.
Lawton also said an assurance by Milwaukee-based Marcus Corp. that it will show movies produced in Wisconsin will further boost efforts to draw the film industry to Wisconsin.
Lawton announced the thriller "Blue World" will spend its $2.5 million budget in Milwaukee. "The Violinist," a $1 million film about Arab-Israeli immigrants, will film entirely in Green Bay, primarily on the campus of either the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay or St. Norbert College, Lawton said.
The announcements were made just a few weeks after the new incentives took effect. The incentives give 25% investment tax credits to Wisconsin-based productions and 15% income tax credits to related businesses.
Lawton said producers of the Johnny Depp film "Public Enemies" have submitted an application for tax credits with the state Department of Commerce.
Chicago-based Fletcher Camera, which sells and rents cameras and other equipment, will open a Milwaukee office, and Third Ward Records is building a new recording studio. Both will be housed in 3rd Coast Studio, a company created last year in anticipation of the coming film business, said Janine Sijan Rozina of 3rd Coast.
I don't know how Lawton can make these announcements without feeling like a total fool.
Money will be flowing into Wisconsin thanks to tax incentives. The incentives are attracting business. Lower taxes work.
Plus, new businesses are opening in Milwaukee to serve the filmmakers that will be choosing Wisconsin.
It's clear that if you lower taxes, they will come.
Now, how can we get Doyle and the Dems to understand that this doesn't just apply to the film industry?
I have an idea for a movie that I'd like to pitch--
It's about a really dumb Midwestern governor and high tax lawmakers. There's a tornado. It swoops the elected officials up somewhere over the rainbow. A wicked witch is after them. They seek the help of a wizard. At the end, they get a brain.
"Oh, Auntie Em-- there's no place like a low tax place!"
2 comments:
It's clear that if you lower taxes, they will come.
That's just great until the state next to you lowers ITS taxes less than yours, and then you have a race to the bottom. No one wins that way.
Yes, you're right.
It was a mistake for Wisconsin to provide incentives to attract filmmakers.
We don't want their business.
Let them make their movies in Minnesota.
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