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Is Illinois' Film Tax Credit Paying Off?
Illinois offers generous tax credits to film and television producers to bring their work here. Is it paying off?

The answer is, it hasn't been studied, says Susan Christopherson, a professor of regional planning at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. However, where it has been studied, she says in every case, taxpayers are not getting back what they’re paying out, even taking into account a production’s indirect economic impact.

Illinois has given producers a tax credit since 2003. In 2008, it was increased to 30 percent of expenses incurred in Illinois, including personnel.

The Illinois Film Office says productions worth over $150 million are made in Illinois because of the tax credit. The industry, with this subsidy, is responsible for 4,000 full-time-equivalent jobs, the film office says.

Christopherson says almost all of that production would take place somewhere else were it not for the tax credit, meaning that the state will have to subsidize the industry forever.

Film industry assistance began in the 1990s as a means of promoting tourism, and it included help with permits and locations. Last decade, it turned into economic development, with states offering subsidies as they vied to become Hollywood East, says Ned Rightor, an economic consultant in Needham, Mass., who has studied the economics of film production.

(Illinois Radio Network)
07 05 10 by Newsroom
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