As you know, the Cook County Board postponed the vote on the $48 million 2004 budget, which contains a proposed tax on leased equipment ? with dire consequences to the film industry — until Thursday, Dec. 18.
“The postponement was the direct result of the considerable criticism of country president John Stroger’s budget plan and the pressure brought to bear on the commissioners from many different sources, ourselves included,” said Essanay’s Wayne Kubacki, who instigated the protest campaign that resulted in filmmakers sending several hundred protest letters to county commissioners.
Harold Ramis also protested the tax publicly via a prominently-featured Tribune Voice of the People letter Sunday.
“The state, county and the city continue to maintain the most unfavorable tax environment for film production in the United States,” he said.
“Sales and use taxes have been waived or eliminated in 24 other states and Chicago is the only location in the U.S. that levies a 6% tax on the rental or lease of equipment in film production. These taxes add hundreds of thousands of dollars to a budget’s bottom line and make it very difficult to bring production here,” he stated.
To emphasize his point, Ramis cited a $4 million cost differential between a proposed $12 million budget Toronto budget vs. a $16 million Chicago budget. “A significant amount of this difference is caused by incentives and a favorable tax environment” offered by Canadian governments, he said.
