Illinois increases their film tax credits in order to compete with Georgia.
According to reports, Illinois has reorganized their film tax credits in order to compete with Georgia and lure bigger movies and TV shows to the state.
The newly established Illinois’ tax credit currently offers 30 percent on qualified expenditures in the state, including production, post-production and crew member salaries up to $100,000. Meanwhile, Georgia offers up to a 30 percent tax credit to film projects for productions that spend at least $500,000 in the state.
This newly established film tax credit for Illinois comes as Gov. Bruce Rauner lifted their previously established tax deferral on November 10th in order to promote job growth in Illinois. There is also a 15% “uplift” for salaries of individuals who live in economically disadvantaged areas, according to the report.
Previously, Illinois faced a major budget crisis which halted all productions tax credits in the state. In an attempt to balance the budget, Rauner announced he would defer application approvals on the tax credit, which was supposed to remain in effect for another six years, according to reports.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that production companies spent $2.8 billion in Illinois since the tax credit was introduced in 2008 however, tax payers are expected to lose $208 million due to the tax breaks.
But, the film industry tax incentives is a risky business to partake in. For example, North Carolina and Louisiana invested in film tax incentives only to see their states succumb to the pressure of budget constraints. Eventually, this forced hundreds of crew workers and aspiring actors to travel to cities like Atlanta in order to find work in the film industry.
Meanwhile, Hollywood, California saw increase in on-location TV production of nearly 12% after expanding their tax credits.
This news comes as Australia announced their 40% film tax incentive program. It was originally reported that Marvel’s Thor sequel was going to film in Atlanta, Georgia. However, it was recently revealed last week that Marvel’s Thor film franchise sequel, Thor: Ragnarok will be filmed in the Gold Coast with no reports suggesting that Thor will be returning to the ATL. In addition, Australia government officials announced the new Alien reboot will also be filmed in Queensland, Australia.
The biggest tax incentive is the “Producer Offset”. According to Screen Australia, the Producer Offset tax incentives provides a 40 percent tax rebate for feature films and a 20 percent tax incentives for any other production outside of feature films. That is approximately, 10% more than Georgia’s film tax credit which provides 30% to feature films, TV shows and other productions.
Recent Film Tax Credit news:
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Why Georgia’s Film Industry is In Serious Trouble
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How Georgia Stole Two Movies from Florida’s Film Industry
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Why Georgia is Going to Take Over the Film Industry
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