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Is $300 million enough to help California's starving starlets?

September 21, 2009

The Iowa Film Credit Program isn't as bad as we thought. It's far worse. From The Des Moines Register:

Iowa's bill for going to the movies could be a blockbuster: Up to $300 million in coming years, says an Iowa lawmaker.

In May and June, movie producers rushed to get $208 million in tax credits before a new spending cap began July 1, said Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, who learned about the last-minute requests at meeting with state development leaders and lawmakers.

The state's investment in film spikes to about $300 million after projects that are under way or completed are added to the mix, said Bolkcom and others familiar with the meeting.

This comes right after the Director of the Department of Economic Development resigned because of evidence that Iowa's program to subsidize Hollywood was being looted by carpetbagging film companies. Abuses included the purchase of a Mercedes and a Land Rover, payments to relatives, and money being spent out of state in violation of the plan rules.

The looters lobby is springing into action to keep the action going:

On Saturday, Iowa's Motion Picture Association and film industry leaders urged state leaders to allow existing tax credit projects to proceed.

"The suspension of the program during the audit is not the answer," said a news release from the association announcing a Monday news conference. "There are many films currently in production and planning for production in the state later this year, and by suspending the production incentives, the state jeopardizes putting more Iowans out of work while we are facing the highest state unemployment since 1986, as well as discouraging potential future productions from considering Iowa."

Yes, what will our starving Mercedes and Land Rover dealers do? It's just been revealed that not a single film project so far has bothered to comply with the paperwork rules for the program, and yet they have the nerve to tell us we need to keep your money flowing to Mira Sorvino. In a better world, the only coverage they would get at the press conference would be with tar and feathers.

It would be surprising if the 4:56 pm Friday document dump announcing the Film credit scandal is anything more than the tip of the iceberg. Look for more to come. We'll be all over it.

Prior Tax Update Coverage:

BUY THEM A BENZ AND THEY WILL COME!

THE IOWA FILM CREDIT EXPLOSION: WE SHOULDN'T BE SURPRISED.

Other Iowa Blog Coverage:

Dave Swenson: Magic Beans, Tax Credits and Economic Development

Bleeding Heartland: Tramontina resigns over problems with film tax credits

Iowa Republican: Bad Poll Numbers + Major Scandal = Chaos for Culver

The Bean Walker links to a number of stories on the debacle.