Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A public hearing on the Pennsylvania Film Production Tax Credit focused on calls for its expansion to attract more projects and boost local economies, but little time was spent on the program’s transparency.
Pennsylvania operates a $70 million tax credit program to expand the state’s film industry. The tax credit can be used to offset a project’s tax liability if Pennsylvania production expenses make up at least 60% of a film’s total production expenses, according to the Department of Community and Economic Development.
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Two proposed bills, SB321 and HB1432, would boost state assistance from $70 million to $125 million and call it the “Film Industry Incentive” rather than the “Film Production Tax Credit.”
“Since the state’s current program is capped at $70 million, projects are turned away each year due to lack of funding,” Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Beaver/Greene/Washington, said in a legislative memo. “By increasing the cap on the Film Industry Incentive, we are taking an important first step in meeting the demand of the film and television production industry who want to film in Pennsylvania.”
Bartolotta pointed to statistics noting that 509 productions have been awarded the tax credits and generated $785 million in total state and local taxes.
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At the hearing, speakers emphasized that the tax credit is fundamental for Pennsylvania’s film industry.
“The incentive is key. Without the incentive, there is no work,” said Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office. “The credit is underfunded and oversubscribed, and we need your help to fix that.”
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Legislators were also concerned with long-term stability and ensuring that companies could expect a working relationship in Pennsylvania in the future.
“We have to make sure that we’ve got some kind of predictability, something that this industry can rely on,” Bartolotta said.
“It really is a missed opportunity if we don’t take steps to be able to grow and expand what it is we do here in Pennsylvania,” said Sen. Jay Costa, D-Allegheny.
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The tax credit originally started as a $10 million program and was expanded in 2016, but it has been criticized for a lack of transparency, along with other Pennsylvania tax credit programs, as previously reported by The Center Square. The program received low marks in a review by Good Jobs First for a lack of advanced notice and public participation, the identity of recipients, and subsidy information.
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