Do film tax credits hurt or help local economies?

Massachusetts is one of forty-six states that offer tax credits to filmmakers who agree to produce their movies in that state. The benefit for the Commonwealth is added jobs and more local business while the film is in production. But some are calling for the governor to put a cap on the tax credit in order to balance the budget.

We talk with Joan Fitzgerald, a professor and director of the graduate program of law at Northeastern University. She argues that the tax credit ultimately will lose the state money and does not create long-term sustainable jobs. We also hear from Joe Maiella, the president of the Massachusetts Production Coalition who insists the film tax credit is creating thousands of jobs and is an effective program, especially during the recession.

Read Joan Fitzgerald’s op/ed in the Boston Globe: State should yell ‘cut’ to film tax credit