If you listen to certain voices in Louisiana, they will want you to believe that all of the state's issues are because of filming. They think that if the state didn't allow incentives for the movie and television industry to base their filming in Louisiana, everything would be fixed.

No, I'm not kidding.

These lawmakers are creating a bunch of noise over a new report that suggests the state's film tax incentive program grew to $500 million since 2018. They think that $500 million (over how many years) is the reason that Louisiana can't keep up. The state is about to hit a massive budget shortfall (about $1.5 billion according to some calculations), and some are pointing the finger at the filming industry.

But lets actually consider some serious numbers and events, not just hypotheticals about ROI on the film tax incentives. What changes have happened lately that would cause this massive shortfall? Spending was increased in certain state departments, we cut off federal funding coming into the state, and we gutted the state's Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP) protections. Of all these changes, the ITEP one might be the biggest issue.

The state of Louisiana has been giving away its wealth and natural resources for decades. Louisiana is one of the most important locations for oil, gas, natural gas, petrochemicals, and shipping in the world. But it doesn't treat itself that way. Instead of standing ground and getting the state's fair share, its been neatly packaged up and sold off to the highest bidders through back room deals. With only a few getting the benefits.

This trend has been around for a long time, and continues today. While some lawmakers are fretting over $500 million since 2018 for film exceptions, they will hand out $187 million in a single day. That's right, they can gift nearly $200 million dollars with little (or no) oversight through the ITEP program. Of that $187 million gifted in one day, over $184 million of it went to one company, Venture Global Calcasieu Pass...which was for just one year.

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You might think "that's an outlier, there's no way they do that regularly", but you'd be wrong. Just a couple of months ago, they gifted $185 million in a single meeting.

The ITEP program has been giving away an average of $1.4 BILLION to companies in EVERY YEAR. Well, from 2016 to 2020, and likely before. In 2018, a "seismic" shift with ITEP took place when then Governor John Bel Edwards gave power over ITEP to local leaders. Something that started helping rebuild Louisiana right away, specifically in Caddo Parish. That's where former Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator put his foot down with his new powers. But those powers have now been stripped away from local leaders again, and ITEP decisions are made by unelected officials in back rooms once again.

Oh, yeah, that's right. The people making the decisions to give away BILLIONS OF DOLLARS from Louisiana are unelected. They are business and gubernatorial appointees, and they have more power than most elected officials in Louisiana.

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So when Louisiana is looking at a budget shortfall over $1 billion, and they're handing out more than that to one of the richest industries in the world, lets not blame a filming tax credit that's cost $500 million since 2016. Because that filming credit isn't all about return on investment (ROI), its about return on relationships (ROR). The ripples of filming doesn't just last for the 6 weeks a project shoots, look at all of the movie posters, historical markers, and history tours that exist for movies that were shot years ago.

But even without all of the numbers, just think about this: if filming tax credits don't work, why are states like Georgia, Kentucky, and Illinois, as well as countries like the UK and New Zealand ramping up their programs harder?

Maybe, just maybe, the filming tax credits aren't the problem.

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