After Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle killed the state’s successful film tax incentives last year, both gubernatorial candidates have made reinstating the incentives part of their campaigns.
Both Republican Scott Walker and Democrat Tom Barrett came to the conclusion that $75 million from film industry revenues that put people to work in a state $8 billion underwater is not a bad thing.
GOP candidate Walker’s campaign statement criticized Gov. Doyle for having “gutted this important job creation incentive” in 2009 by reducing funds available to film productions to a pool of $500,000 total in each fiscal year.
The reduced amount “has not been nearly as successful” in attracting film and TV projects and creating jobs, the statement said.
Democrat Barrett’s camp said he supported the original tax-credit program and would be “willing to look” at expanding it from the $500,000 if the move is fiscally responsible and supports state jobs and companies.
“This means there’s hope,” said Scott Robbe, the dismantled Film Wisconsin’s executive director and one of the original founders of the statewide private-public initiative to promote filmmaking.
“However, what will happen is totally unknown at this point,” he added.
The original incentives enacted in 2008 were open-ended and provided a refundable credit of 25% of in-state production expenses, including salaries.
They had bipartisan support when they were passed by the Legislature in 2006. They resulted in an estimated $75 million in revenue generated by eight features, 16 TV shows and three national spot productions.
