Contact
Subscribe
How to flame your dragon
Eric Witt
We need money to balance the budget. I get it.
We need predictability of film production credit payouts for future budgeting. I get it.
We need to make sure our tax dollars are well invested and providing positive returns to the state. I get it.
People from film, television, and hundreds of local businesses sat for weeks, working in good faith to satisfy the fiscal and transparency concerns of the administration, while not inflicting unintended harm on this flourishing new industry in our state.
After all their hard work – and after they had come to a vehicle which, while not perfect, they could move forward and tweak through the process – they were betrayed.
While inexplicably holding up the entire state budget, this whole “debate” – and I use that term very loosely – over the film industry has become a rabbit hole of madness. One that is destroying New Mexico’s reputation as a touchstone of intelligent programs – not just film – and replacing it with a Sad Sack cartoon.
Predictable annual pay-out budgets, spread credit payments, accountability and reporting – all of these noble concepts have become meaningless under the proposal currently before the House, now a mass of technical contradictions, internal conflicts, and administrative nightmares that only Tim Burton could visualize. They should publish the bill in 3-D.
Congratulations, administration and its supporters: Through this unwillingness to engage people with actual knowledge of the industry, you have sent New Mexico plummeting from a globally respected position of leadership straight into the gutter.
In a mere matter of weeks you have rewritten a blossoming success story into a zombie film of the walking dead. Way to go.
Witt is executive director of the Motion Picture Association of New Mexico.
|
Share
Tweet
|
Advertisements
|
12 comments so far. Scroll down to submit your own comment.
Leave a response
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Eric, you get half the equation. The other half of balancing a budget is to make spending cuts.
We don’t want send a strong message that New Mexico is truly open for UNVERIFIABLE ROI business. There are two studies floating through the hallowed halls of the Legislature that refute each others’ findings. So what is it? Is the film tax incentive a good investment for New Mexico taxpayers, or a bad investment? One study says we are making a good return on our tax credits – the other says we are losing money on every film industry tax credit dollar.
Generally, my economics sense tells me that the whole program is a race to the bottom as Hollywood producers pit one state against each other for the most favorable terms. Wisconsin is offering 40 percent tax credits – can you top that New Mexico? C’mon, make me an offer. I’m waiting. I’ve got Illinois on the other line. My concern is that the film incentive program puts us in an auction situation and may ultimately be a loser for the state.
I agree with Michael Hays…what a childish commentary from Witt. Rather than trying to appear as an advocate for filming in NM, he comes across sounding like a teenager who just had the car keys taken away from disapproving parents.
I guess I wouldn’t expect any less from a former top staffer to Richardson and Speaker Lujan suddenly realizing he doesn’t have the stroke he used to have.
It is nice to see that there is support for SB 44 and SB 47. However like everything in the state we need to limit the state’s annual obligation to $45 million for the film industry. This will free up millions for priority items – medicaid and education. There has to be compromise by everyone.
Do you want some cheese with that whine? UNM might have some leftover.
Hemingway — The industry was one of the earliest supporters of Tim Keller’s transparency bills. SB 44 passed unanimously, 39-0, and was applauded by the industry as a step in the right direction. Certainly we are proud to be a leader in transparency and optimistic that all industries that benefit from incentives will follow suit.
The currently proposed SB 47 is one such measure that would open the books for all incentives to tax-payers. Whether you support film or not, I think we can all agree that transparency across the board for all incentives makes sense (especially considering that film accounts for only 5% of ALL state incentives).
If you agree, please contact members of the Senate Finance Committee to voice your support for SB 47.
Unfortunately, Mr. Witt is by no means the best person to be speaking on this matter. His voice is skewed by his close ties to Richardson pay-to-play politics and blind rubberstamping-practices that succeeded in getting the state into the financial quagmire we are now in and ironically forcing us to have this film-credit debate. The fact that Witt admitting to consulting legal counsel before taking the job as “executive director” of the Motion Picture Association of New Mexico to skirt the fact that he was Richardson’s Chief of Staff and his “go-to film person” (according to an Albuquerque Journal article published this morning, coincidentally) only cements his lack of objectivity in my eyes.
We need to implement STRONG receipt tracking, local hiring, and accountability. SB44 is a step in the right direction in requiring increased film industry transparency before an award of a state tax credit. The Senate should be applauded, and the House should follow suit. However you have wily House Speaker Ben Lujan who is in the pockets of the film industry.
Pardon me, I had to laugh at that.
Best of luck to you son.
Hemingway, the studies and articles you’re referring to are extremely old news and was read by everyone in the industry long ago. Iowa’s program was highly flawed by all accounts and contained loopholes that allowed for abuse. By contrast, New Mexico’s program, first established by Gary Johnson, is considered an example of a very tightly run and effectively managed program to other states. Utah and Arizona, for instance, are currently re-shaping their programs to look more like New Mexico’s. (New Mexico continues to tighten any loopholes.
You are mistaken that NM does not review receipts. In fact, all receipts are submitted and reviewed thoroughly by the Tax and Rev department before any rebate is issued. Tax and Rev has been known to disqualify receipts for rebate in their analysis. Further, proposals are now in the legislature to ensure a bricks-and-mortar presence for companies and employees.
These are not cookie-cutter programs. Each state drafts their own guidelines and rules. For instance, some offer rebates, some offer tax-credits. Each state is managed differently. Comparing Iowa to New Mexico programs is apples to oranges — or even apples to rocks.
We agree with you: New Mexicans deserve a non-partisan and NM specific study of the effectiveness and impact of the incentives.
Mr. Witt,
You write, “Through this unwillingness to engage people with actual knowledge of the industry, you have sent New Mexico plummeting from a globally respected position of leadership straight into the gutter.”
Empty hyperbole. Where is the support for this statement? Better yet, where is your presentation of “actual knowledge of the industry”? You had the space. You used all of 273 words for this snide commentary; why not use another 1000 words to make sense?
I know nothing of this issue, but, I assure you, rhetorical pyrotechnics, about which the film industry knows much, cannot have much appeal to those who want an adult debate about the issues.
Here is the film incentive report and a related article:
http://www.iowalifechanging.com/downloads/filmreport09.pdf
http://thegazette.com/tag/film-program/
The Senate has passed a reasonable and an excellent bill SB 44 on the film incentives. It will bring transparency to the program, and taxpayers will see where their money is going. We don’t want to end up like Iowa.
Here is a 2009 nine-page report by an independent consultant that reviewed the abusive and mismanaged spending by the Iowa Film Office, which is part of the Iowa Department of Economic Development. Mr. Witt – must READ this. It is like reading an Alice in Wonderland script – full of nonsense.
The audit found that nearly half of tax incentives designed to encourage filmmakers to come to Iowa and hire local companies had actually gone to out-of-state individuals and businesses.
The inquiry by accounting firm Clifton Gunderson also found that directors, producers and actors who shouldn’t have qualified for tax credits claimed them for other production work, costing up to $650,000 on one project alone.
http://www.kcci.com/download/2009/1005/21205730…
So how true is this of the New Mexico tax credit program where there is no monitoring of this program and no review of receipts. We have to do an audit ASAP. We cut infrastructure projects that would have create real New Mexican jobs. Yet we are throwing millions at the film incentive program without any concrete evidence it is creating jobs – unbelievable.