I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Citing a 2008 study of New Mexico’s film industry subsidies, Los Angeles Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik Friday questioned California’s own $100 million-a-year tax credits for Hollywood film productions, calling them “corporate welfare.”
The study showed that New Mexico saw only 14 cents in returns for every dollar it spent on film production tax credits.
According to a state review of SIC data, there were 52 film tax credits worth $46 million in 2008 and 78 credits worth $76 million in 2009, The Independent reported in March.
The value of the state’s film tax credit program, particularly in terms of its economic benefits, is a hotly debated topic in New Mexico and has been for years.
A competing report issued in January 2009 by the New Mexico Film Office found a much more positive economic impact than the report cited by Hiltzik. Conducted by Ernst & Young, the study concluded that the program had earned $0.94 in additional tax revenue for each $1.00 paid out in incentives based on the 2007 value of present and future year tax receipts and the 2007 value of state film production tax credits.
But Hiltzik counts himself among the skeptical when talk turns to reports such as the one performed by Ernst & Young.
“The rationale for this welfare program is to keep productions from fleeing to other states, taking … jobs with them,” Hiltzik reported. “But you could go blind looking for an independent study, as opposed to studies funded by the state film commissions handing out the dough, showing that such programs produce more in overall benefits than they cost.”
SIC members have raised separate concerns about the value of New Mexico’s no-interest loans for film productions, The Independent reported in March. New Mexico has given Hollywood $273 million in no-interest loans for 26 films since 2003, including $15 million for the Denzel Washington film Book of Eli, The Independent reported.
New Mexico legislators have called for Gov. Bill Richardson to curtail state subsidies for Hollywood productions.
It was reported in March that the Motion Picture Association of America was considering Richardson as the organization’s new director, a position with a salary exceeding $1 million a year.
