The Fiscal Cliff was a political disaster for Republicans. They sabotaged John Boehner’s Plan B, which raised taxes on people making over a million dollars. This strengthened Obama’s hand and the compromise was tilted in his favor. But there’s a caveat in this bill that Republicans should have resisted. There is a special tax break for television and movie producers. The very same Hollywood Marxists who rail about tax cuts for the rich get a tax cut!
Section 317 of the freshly approved legislation includes an extension for “special expensing rules for certain film and television productions.” Congress first enacted production tax incentives favorable to the domestic entertainment industry in 2004, and extended them in 2008, but the deal was meant to expire in 2011.
The fiscal cliff deal extends the tax incentives through 2013–even as payroll taxes rise on ordinary Americans.
The original tax incentive applied to productions costing less than $15 million to make ($20 million in low-income areas). The 2008 extension applies to all films, up to a deduction of $15 million (or $20 million in low-income areas). The incentive is especially generous to television series; it applies to each TV episode.
Hollywood players routinely beg the government to raise their taxes so they can pay their “fair share.”
Why didn’t Republicans call out Obama for giving Hollywood a tax cut? Many Republican politicians rail about Hollywood, yet they do nothing to financially do damage to Hollywood. This is crazy and it shows me the GOP should not be taken serious next time they fuss about how evil Hollywood is.
I support a 30% tax on all Entertainment profits. This would hit the Hollywood profits. I rather do them economic damage than rail about how evil they are. Actions speak louder than words and the GOP is just all talk.
Tags: Fiscal Cliff, Hollywood
