Georgia’s film tax credits are nearly a thing of legend at this point, one of the pillars of former Governor Nathan Deal’s legacy and a shining example of his pro-business mantra – create a strong tax and business environment, and investment will follow.
Similar tax credits for music and video games followed, and other industries have scrambled to get their piece of the pie as well. But with all these incentives flying around – who is keeping track of whether or not all of this is a good deal for Georgians?
Enter SB 120, the “Georgia Tax Credit Business Case Act,” currently on the desk of Gov. Brian Kemp after passing both houses during the 2019 session. The bill would require regular evaluation of the state’s various economic development tax incentives.
According to numbers released last year by the governor’s office, there was $2.7 billion in direct spending in Georgia by the film industry in fiscal year 2018. Their estimates put the overall economic impact at a whopping $9.5 billion for the year. On the flip side Georgia doled out more than $800 million in tax credits to film production companies for the fiscal year, and over the past decade has given over $4 billion in incentives.
Now it doesn’t take a mathematician to see that Georgia comes out ahead on that exchange – but still state legislators, including bill sponsor state Sen. John Albers (R-Alpharetta), want to make sure they keep a close eye on such staggering amounts of money being shuffled about. SB 120 would allow the the chairs of House Ways & Means and Senate Finance Committees to request three incentive evaluations per year. These requests can be on existing incentives or on legislative proposals, and would be carried out by the state auditor, who would analyze the economic impact and public benefit of the credits on a five year evaluation cycle.
The legislation is similar to that already in place in 30 other states plus the District of Columbia.
Zoe Covello, communications consultant with The Pew Charitable Trusts, believes the bill is good policy for Georgia.
“Georgia’s program offers some of the most favorable terms in the country. And despite the costs of this program, Georgia—until now—has lacked a process for evaluating the film tax credit and other incentives.”
