Should Hollywood moguls get money from Virginia taxpayers? Lawmakers in Richmond are divided.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away, Hollywood producers held out their hands. And Virginia taxpayers forked over cash, about $50 million in the last five years. And there’s a sequel on the way. That’s because the Motion Picture Production Tax Credit is still humming along, despite an effort by freshman Delegate Karrie Delaney, a Democrat from Fairfax County, to use that money for other things.
“I understand that there’s probably some economic return that we get by having some motion picture projects take place in the Commonwealth," Delaney said. "But we have some really important things that we need to fund."
Like expanding child care for low-income families. Delaney wanted to move the money from Hollywood to preschool. But lawmakers did not approve that pitch. Republican Delegate Nick Freitas also tried to chunk of the Motion Picture Production Tax Credit.
“I also question whether it’s a legitimate function of government to spend taxpayer dollars on uses such as that, especially when we have uses with respect to law enforcement on the commonwealth’s time,” Freitas said.
Police departments across Virginia are partially funded by stuff they take from people — a process called civil asset forfeiture. Freitas says he’d rather see that Hollywood money fund police departments. But, once again, lawmakers said no. That tax credit is staying, for now.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
