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Iowa: We think we can weasel out of this

September 24, 2009

Iowa hopes to weasel out of tax credits for 109 projects that have received initial approval, reports The Des Moines Register:

Iowa has no obligation to provide tax credits for about $500 million in film projects that received initial state approval, an economic development official said Wednesday.
Dick Oshlo, interim director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, said 109 applications have received approval, but that's no guarantee those projects will qualify for tax credits.

"The application is just an indication that they were eligible to move forward to the next stage," Oshlo said, referring to movie producers. "There was no contract, so we believe we have no liability."

This is starting to remind me of the TouchPlay disaster, where the state quietly paid millions to reimburse ~~slot machine~~ video lottery terminal owners after the state had let them sneak their machines into convenience stores, bars and grocery stores across the state, only to pull them in response to public outrage. The lawsuits will start any time now, and then there will be some big ugly settlement down the road.

P.M. Update: Not so fast, weasel boy.

We'll roundup more developments on the film credit fiasco later; meanwhile, check out the Register's list of film credits applied for, and the status of the applications, including the future classic "2009 Kraft Foods."

Tags: Corporate welfare.Economic development.film credits.harold hill.Iowa tax policy.