The Los Angeles City
Council on October 19 asked the city attorney to draft an ordinance that would
reduce the city's tax on film production companies and make other changes
designed to attract more film industry jobs to the city.
The council is considering:
·
Cutting the production tax, and reducing the
maximum city tax that a production company would pay from $12,495 to $9,245.
·
Offering production companies a rebate of the 1
percent portion of the state sales that the city receives.
·
Offering free parking for film production
workers in city-owned lots.
·
Expediting the process for getting a permit to
film in the city.
The Los Angeles Times
reported: "Although California's new film tax credit has slowed some of
the production migration (to other cities, states and countries), tax credit
funds are limited and already have been exhausted for the current year. The
state program also exempts commercial producers, who account for a major share
of local production."
While Southern California remains the largest U.S. site for
producing commercials, its share of the market fell from 54 percent in 2007 to
48 percent in 2009. (Source: Los Angeles
Times, October 20.)
In related news:
Tax Credit Creates
3,076 Jobs in One Month, Treasurer Reports. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer this week released a "Jobs Report" for
September 11 through October 15 stating that tax credits administered by the
California Tax Credit Allocation Committee created 3,076 jobs during that brief
period. The committee
administers two low-income housing tax credit programs (state and federal)
designed to encourage private investment in affordable rental housing for
households meeting certain income requirements. The treasurer's two-page report
listed specific housing projects to which the jobs were attributed, and said
the positions were "housing construction-related jobs that directly
contribute to the completion of the project." (Source: STO Jobs Report, October 18.)
Cal-TaxReports, October 22, 2010
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