Law & Order Back To Toronto? Of Course Not!

The Law & Order Corporate Welfare Act of 2006:

A group of City Council members yesterday called on the state to expand a program started last year that provides tax credits to film producers who shoot at least 75% of a movie in New York.

“The credit, everyone agrees, has been hugely successful,” Council Member David Yassky, a Democrat of Brooklyn, told reporters at City Hall.

Enacted as part of the “Made in N.Y.” program, the tax break is offered as an incentive for filmmakers who can reclaim a total of 15% of a movie’s production costs as a tax credit. The filmmakers get a 5% break on city taxes and a 10% cut in state taxes. Lawmakers put initial caps of $12.5 million annually for four years in city credits and $25 million a year for the state.

The city’s total share has already been allocated, and a current proposal being negotiated in the state budget would more than double the size of the program. The city would have $30 million an year to give in credits to filmmakers, and the state would have $60 million.

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While critics of the tax credits deride it as a political favor to Hollywood, supporters say they are needed to help New York draw productions that filmmakers might otherwise take to cheaper cities such as Toronto or Vancouver. Other cities that have turned to tax credits for the film and television industry include London, which recently announced that Mr. Allen, whose films have become synonymous with New York, plans to shoot his third movie set in the British capital.