Louisiana in 1992 became the first state in the country to offer a tax incentive to film and TV productions that elected to shoot in the state, and lawmakers in Louisiana are now looking to eliminate it.
The Louisiana House of Representatives on Tuesday voted on and passed a tax reform bill that would eliminate the $150 million tax credit offered to film and TV productions. The bill introduced by Republican Governor Jeff Landry addresses a wide array of reductions to personal and corporate income taxes, but among those to be impacted is the incentive for film and TV. The vote passed 87-12.
The bill would next move to the Senate and then need to be approved by the Governor. The Senate’s current session of the Louisiana Senate adjourns on November 25. If approved, the tax credit would be sunsetted by June 30. That may seem like a ways away, but it’s very, very close if you’re a film project deciding now where you intend to shoot.
The news comes as industry consolidation and general inflation have greatly impacted the amount of production across the industry, leading to a downturn in overall productions and more and more projects leaving to film overseas or across U.S. borders.
In response to these trends, California and Governor Gavin Newsom have offered to boost its tax credits, more than doubling them to $750 million, while Arizona adopted its tax credit in 2022, and Nevada is considering its own $100 million program.
While the Louisiana bill passed in a wide margin, it has not been without opposition. Film Louisiana President Jason Waggenspack earlier this week told a House committee it would have a big impact on the local film community and shouldn’t be revoked.
“$180 million in our tax credit program goes out, $360 million goes directly to Louisiana residents and over $600 million in sales on top of that come to the state of Louisiana,” Waggenspack said, via Channel 4 WWL in Louisiana. “It’s the definition of economic development.”
A report released by Film Louisiana back in 2021 found that the film industry has created over $260 million in infrastructure, that it generates $2.5 billion annually in tourism related to film, and that in 2020, the film industry created nearly 10,000 jobs and $813 million of local spend.
While not the film hub that its fellow Southern state Georgia has become thanks to its uncapped $1 billion tax credit program, Louisiana has attracted over 1,000 productions to the state in the last decade. Some movies like Netflix’s “Hit Man” have shot there, and filming now in New Orleans are Netflix’s “People We Meet on Vacation” and A24’s “Is God Is.”
Louisiana’s tax credit incentive began in 1992 and was expanded significantly 10 years later, exceeding $260 million by 2013. In 2015, the program was scaled back to $180 million, and then scaled back again to $150 million in 2017. Since then, productions can earn up to a 40 percent rebate on in-state, qualified spend, including a 25 percent base credit.
It remains to be seen how a Donald Trump administration might influence the hand of other states when it comes to film and TV productions, or if Louisiana is the first in a trend of other states making changes to their incentives.
