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.
Gov. Susana Martinez outlined her opposition to the film incentive program during her State of the State address in Santa Fe Tuesday. But according to reporting by KOB-TV, an anecdote that Martinez used exploited a loophole that has already been closed.
“One film company spent $100,000 chartering an actor’s private jet and New Mexico taxpayers paid $25,000 of it,” Martinez said in the address.
But this loophole that has since been closed, according to Eric Witt, director of the Motion Picture Association in New Mexico.
Martinez has advocated scaling down the film incentives from 25 percent to 15 percent.
“This has been incorrectly referred to as a tax credit,” Martinez said. “It has nothing to do with taxes.”
The Santa Fe Reporter looked into this statement.
According to the New Mexico Film Office (part of the state’s Economic Development Department), that’s not wholly true. The only expenses that qualify for the current 25 percent refund are taxable production costs. In other words, film producers pay, say, $92 in taxable expenses and $8 in state taxes on those expenses. The total ($100) is used to calculate the rebate ($25).
“Technically, New Mexico has a ‘refundable tax credit,’” the Film Office’s website explains.
The repeal of the tax credits may face an uphill battle.
Attempts to cut the program have failed to get out of committee.
