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The Michigan House Tax Policy Committee could vote this week on a measure to end Michigan’s film tax credit program.
The bill is sponsored by House Republican Dan Lauwers of Brockway in St. Clair County.
If approved, the incentives will end September 30th.
While legislators this year have reduced the size of the film credit program because of budget constraints, Governor Rick Snyder did propose a $50 million placeholder in next year’s budget for film credits. That effectively means he’s putting the issue up for discussion.
Lauwers has said that while he supports film making in Michigan he “doesn’t want to have to buy it.”
Teamsters were in Lansing last week pushing for continuation of the credits, saying they’ve created jobs.
But Charles Owens of the National Federation of Independent Business disagrees, saying “those jobs never pan out, the money invested by taxpayers is wasted,” when compared with spending the money on roads.
Last year there were 27 film projects that were supported with $64 million in taxpayer supported film credits. The projects had expected to generate more than two thousand hires.
