The Assembly Appropriations Committee unanimously supported a bill that would extend funding for California's film and television tax credit program. Funding for the program is due to expire next year.Talk about people making "too much" money.... You know, I might could enjoy this line of socialist thought :)
California sets aside $100 million annually for dozens of projects applying for credits between 20% and 25% of qualified production expenses for movies and TV shows.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Corporate Welfare/Giving Money To The Rich
If you say you're against "corporate welfare", what do you say about this form of it?
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"California lawmakers first enacted the program in 2009 in an effort to compete with nearly 40 states that offer tax incentives and rebates to filmmakers." Interesting how you didn't include that.
"They're doing it, too!" wasn't allowed as an excuse when *I* was growing up.
So, do you support this corporate welfare or not?
Do you support this government give-away to the 1%?
I don't support corporate welfare as a concept. The difference between us is I can say to myself "I don't support this concept, but I understand it is better for myself, my community, and my fellow citizens and therefore will do it anyway." Really though the solution isn't have California put itself at a disadvantage it would be the states coming together and making a binding contract saying enough is enough, none of us are going to give preferential treatment to businesses that don't need it.
Oh, so you support collusion???
If you mean government, then yes. Amazingly it seems Republicans forget that government is a construct of the people, it is a system to make contracts that promote and discourage things society feels are important. We promote economic activity, national security, and education. We discourage violence, lying, and fraud.
To reach these goals we have our city, county, state, and federal levels of government, all specifying what people can and can't do and what they will and won't pay for. I personally believe tax credits designed to poach business from other states in our own country is counterproductive and should be democratically prevented.
I don't quite see how it could be prevented, what with that pesky Constitution standing in the way!
What I get from this is that you don't support corporate welfare unless you think it's good for you and your fellow citizens. "Good enough for me but not for thee." How noble of you.
I don't quite see how you think the Constitution is some unchangeable document, some sacred set of laws carved in stone. It was an amazingly thoughtful agreement between the states, and the people of those states, about how we will conduct ourselves as a nation. We specifically included an amendment process, and used that process early and often. To say that we couldn't stop the endless poaching that is currently occurring through some agreement between the state is clearly misrepresenting the spirit, concept, and goal of the Constitution.
I support the states staying competitive, and if that means when one state writes a self-serving, disgrace of a tax credit, the other states shouldn't be judged for following suit. Movie production doesn't need tax credits, but letting other states poach from California isn't something noble, it's reckless.
When you get around to getting the Constitution changed, thereby allowing the feds control over how the states raise or distribute tax dollars, *please* let me know.
Until then, I think we should follow the law (Constitution) as it *is* and not as might be.
Right, the Constitution might not allow the optimal solution, so as of now the best thing for California is to follow the other states leads and get into the race to the bottom of tax credits. Anything else is unreasonable and dangerous, and suggesting otherwise is irresponsible.
I think portraying the issue as "Corporate Welfare/Giving Money To The Rich" instead of keeping Californian jobs in California is absolutely misleading and you know it is. Conservatives have legitimate complaints about how our country is run, you don't need to look desperate making controversy from nothing, stick with the real problems our country must fix.
This is the very definition of "corporate welfare". That you try to justify it another way doesn't change that fact at all.
The slippery slope is when "corporate welfare" become "political spoils" such as evidence by Obama's gift of stimulus money to campaign contributors to compete with existing successful businesses rather than supporting the successful businesses to enable expansion. Solyndra, LightSquared and God knows how many others gobbled up the stimulus that was supposed to be for job creation and become little more than prizes for contributing. This is why there must be tighter oversight on the process for stimulus grants and why right now issuing any more is out of the question.
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