NYC's Industry Tax Incentive Update

The competition to attract film and television production stiffens, while New York City’s 5 percent tax-incentive program remains in limbo. Since the Republicans’ attempted coup of the New York state Senate in June, the Legislature essentially stalemated, allowing the city’s $192 million tax-incentive program to stall. The program’s future remains uncertain during the legislative summer recess.

While Albany sputters, New York’s competitors for securing film and TV production are moving forward: Quebec effectively doubled its film and television production tax incentives covering 25 percent of total production, instead of 25 percent of labor (typically half of production’s budget is labor costs). Neighboring province Ontario followed suit just two weeks later, allowing the same 25 percent of total production tax credit, according to CBC Canada.

California finalized its program for 20 to 25 percent tax incentives, for qualifying productions to be used after Jan. 2011. Twenty-five productions so far have signed up. “Faster,” a new film from CBS Films, is filming in California as a direct result of the incentives, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Earlier the year, an emergency $350 million was allotted to keep New York state’s 30 percent film-and-television tax incentive program running. State officials discovered they had far underestimated the amount of productions that would be attracted to the state, and a supply of funds that was supposed to last until 2013 was spoken for in less than a year.

As for the city’s incentive program, the Bloomberg administration has proposed reducing it to 4 percent. For TV series, the size of the credit would reduce by 1 percent after the fourth year, and eliminate it altogether after the sixth year.

Pictured: Mayor Bloomberg and Elmo during the 4th Annual "Made in New York" Awards at Gracie Mansion. (Photo by Nielsen Barnard/ Getty Images)

--Jessica Glenza