{"id":26604,"date":"2011-03-01T09:37:34","date_gmt":"2011-03-01T16:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=26604"},"modified":"2011-03-01T09:37:44","modified_gmt":"2011-03-01T16:37:44","slug":"in-defense-of-the-film-compromise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/03\/in-defense-of-the-film-compromise\/","title":{"rendered":"In defense of the film compromise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Dennis J. Roch<\/p><\/div>\n

The crafting of the state budget is an exercise in economics, not emotion.<\/p>\n

For example, I have received hundreds of e-mails from passionate supporters of the film industry, pleading for the Legislature to leave New Mexico\u2019s very generous film subsidy unchanged. Almost all of those contacting me appear to believe that this incentive program merely returns to the film production company a portion of the taxes paid into the state\u2019s coffers.<\/p>\n

However, it’s important to understand that the rebate is\u00a0not a portion of taxes paid… it is a portion of production costs incurred. So the math looks like this: If a film company spends $100 million here, the taxes received by the state on these expenditures is roughly\u00a08 percent (or\u00a0$8 million).<\/p>\n

However, the rebate\u00a0paid out of\u00a0the state\u2019s general fund\u00a0equals 25 percent of the\u00a0eligible expenditures (or $25\u00a0million).\u00a0This represents a net loss to the state of $17 million!<\/p>\n

If\u00a0only five such projects were filmed in New Mexico in a given year, our\u00a0net loss would total $85 million.\u00a0Now, while I\u00a0recognize that such productions do create jobs (some temporary and some permanent) and that they do provide business for New Mexico vendors, they still require us to spend a potentially unlimited amount from the same general fund that must also pay for education, public safety, and other essential services for New Mexico residents.<\/p>\n

So,\u00a0the recent bipartisan compromise endorsed\u00a0unanimously<\/a> by my colleagues and I on the House Taxation and Revenue Committee\u00a0demonstrates that New Mexico is still willing to incentivize\u00a0film production in our state but sets a reasonable limit on the annual negative impact\u00a0to the state\u2019s general fund. Given the fiscal crisis we have faced for the last few years, such moderation is more important than ever.<\/p>\n

We must not be blinded by our passion, but instead honor the public\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n

Roch<\/a>, a Republican, represents District 67 in the New Mexico House of Representatives.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent bipartisan compromise endorsed unanimously by my colleagues and I on the House Taxation and Revenue Committee demonstrates that New Mexico is still willing to incentivize film production in our state but sets a reasonable limit on the annual negative impact to the state\u2019s general fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2037,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[118,107],"class_list":["post-26604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2037"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}