Photo by Holger Ellgaard/WikimediaBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's film tax credit program produced hundreds of millions in household earnings and thousands of jobs last year across the state, but at a steep cost to the state treasury.
That's according to a new study of the tax breaks done for the state economic development department.
Economist Loren Scott estimated Louisiana paid more than $14,000 per job, spending $222 million in film tax credits in 2014 and getting back only $51 million for the state treasury, a return of about 23 cents on the dollar.
Lawmakers, struggling to balance next year's budget with a $1.6 billion shortfall, are eyeing the program for changes. The economist's report suggests several ideas to tighten the list of expenses that qualify for the tax credits and to more closely audit the spending.