Cuomo Goes To Hollywood To Receive Bribes, Er, Donations

Governor Cuomo's schedule today:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s press office has not released a public schedule for him. He’s scheduled to be in Los Angeles, CA tonight to attend a high-dollar fund-raiser being hosted in his honor by Hollywood bigwigs.

Gee, that wouldn't be payback for this, would it?

ALBANY—New York's tax rebates for movie and TV studios are so generous that the state is actually paying them to film here, according to an analysis prepared for—but not published by—one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's tax commissions.

The 137-page addendum to the commission's formal report asserts the Film and Television Tax Credit—which Cuomo has expanded to $420 million a year—now accounts for nearly a quarter of all business tax subsidies the state offers, and should be rolled back.

The analysis was funded by Blackstone founder Peter G. Peterson and commission co-chair Peter Solomon, an investment banker and former deputy to New York City mayor Ed Koch.

...

 “The film production credit, now generally 30 percent of qualifying costs, is large relative to industry profits and tax liability,” the addendum says. “Because the credit exceeds tax liability many times over and is refundable, in effect it is a program of cash payments by the state to credit recipients.”

“It is not clear from our analysis that there is sufficient justification for the size of the film credits. The state should consider scaling back the credits and monitoring the film industry closely to determine the impact on its activities of such a cutback,” the addendum concludes, suggesting a reduction of $50 million per year.

Paying an industry to do business here can be effective, the addendum acknowledges. But why target Hollywood?

The addendum says a similarly tailored credit for manufacturing would offer factories 40 times what they would otherwise owe in state taxes. While film has blossomed in New York—especially since the opening of Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard—the addendum notes that “the industry accounts for less than one percent of the state’s employment” and “many of the film industry jobs are temporary.”

The addendum also questions whether movies or projects, including Steiner Studios, wouldn't have come anyway.

I wrote earlier about this:

Given how Cuomo handed out million in tax breaks to the real estate industry in return for campaign donations and took a couple of million from the gambling industry in return for legalizing casinos and expanding gambling across the state, it behooves some independent entity not connected to Cuomo to look and see just what Sheriff Andy is getting in return for his Hollywood largesse.

We don't need an independent entity to see what Cuomo is getting in return for the Hollywood tax give away.

He's getting bribes in return.