Republicans falsely claim that the reason the incredibly wealthy Americans shouldn't have to pay their fair share of taxes is because they are "job creators." Anyone with half a brain can see through that nonsense. If that were the case, after 14 years of tax freeloading, we should be swimming in jobs. McDonald's would be forced to pay $15 an hour, not by statute but because every person willing to work 40 hours a week was fielding offers from lots of employers. But that is simply not the case.
Upon getting elected, one of the first thing Governor Rick Snyder did was to question a growing business in Michigan and then help drive it out of the state. Solar Panels? Nope. Wind energy? Nope. It was the movie business.
After the generous tax breaks the legislature passed, that were endorsed by then Governor Jennifer Grantholm, things started to happen in Michigan. Movies started to be made here. A lot of movies. Businesses started popping up. Agencies. Caterers. Limo Rentals. Hollywood sat up and took notice. And slowly but surely Hollywood started moving to Michigan. Literally.
What would this have meant in time? Lots and lots of jobs. Lots and lots of employed people paying taxes. A lot more taxes than the tax breaks were giving up.
When the Republicans pulled the rug out from under this program they were being incredibly short sighted. There's a surprise. All they could see was the revenue they were letting get away, while the movie companies were here. I sat down and furiously wrote a letter to every representative in both Houses in Michigan. Their first response? "Where do you live?" In other words, if you don't live in my district, I don't care." But I live in Michigan you idiots!
How short-sighted were they? When Hollywood moved to Michigan, that would have meant the construction of Studios. This is not me guessing. Plans were drawn up to construct a studio on the east side of the state and one on the west side of the state. Construction people would have gotten work. Not just in building the studio, but later in building sets too. Agencies would have opened offices here. Employing lots of people. Union offices would have opened here. Unions for Actors, Directors, Cinematographers, Writers etc..... again, needing lots of people. TV Studios would have followed suit. So would the digital gaming industry. Pixar would have come for example. George Lucas would have been forced to open an Industrial Light and Magic Studio here. The studios would need all kinds of lighting people, sound personnel, Foley artists, editors, grips, stage hands and on and on. There would be a call for Extras, Stunt people, make up artists, stand-in people, and the myriad of technical people that are required to make films. Not to mention Limo services, Hotel accommodations, Drivers, Caterers, Security personnel, and medical personnel required on movie sets. All getting paid very well and then paying taxes.
On March 15th in the Detroit Free Press Mitch Albom noted that on that particular week the legislature drove the final stake into the heart of the movie tax incentives that they had been down-sizing to practical nonexistence anyway. Mr. Albom notes that the legislature argued that they were spending too much water on a little tree. What they failed to note was that when you water a little tree it becomes a big tree. Maybe even a redwood.
But sadly, as Mr. Albom notes, we never got to see it materialize. After 3 years of the tax incentives, (and nearly 650 million spent in the state), Rick Snyder was elected Governor. And although he promised to keep the program, he slashed the guts out of it.
What did that result in? Other states now enjoying what we might have had. One producer who I know for a fact loved shooting all his films in Grand Rapids, once the change was made, pulled up stakes and moved the operation down to Louisiana.
Here are some snippets of what Albom had to say: [reprinted without permission]:
"The new legislature attacked these incentives as if they wore horns. A committee hurriedly recommended their erasure. The house agreed this past week, by a 58-51 vote, largely along party lines.
If only government always worked this fast.
Look. You may like the incentives or hate them, but let's tell the truth. Fifty million isn't making or breaking this state. It's one tenth of 1% of our annual budget. And if Fifty million was being given out it meant that $150 million was being spent."
or
Because the legislature isn't attacking the "fat cats" equally.
Albom notes "The fact is, Michigan has nearly $10 billion in outstanding tax credits. Ten billion! To all kinds of businesses. The film industry is a tiny player, thus an easy target."
Michigan legislators somethimes chide, "If the movies industry leaves because they don't get tax breaks, then they really didn't want to be here." So when is it wrong for industries to want to maximize profits? They sure don't think it's wrong when it comes to oil companies, or even the big three automakers. That's why they are called incentives, to give companies a incentive to work, spend, and pay taxes here. In my town, a major industry didn't get the incentives it wanted and it went to Mexico. That's the nature of business, sometimes rightly, and sometimes not.
Some critics say they didn't produce enough anyway. We didn't get to know. It was gutted and then killed in it's infancy. It didn't get a chance to lay the groundwork and let it flourish. Yes, some say it was too much water on a little tree. But little trees become big trees.
We had a chance for Redwoods, and our Republican representatives let us down. The first step to creating jobs is to stop kicking them out of the state.
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