Back to selection
TAKE THAT BACK!
At Filmmaker we’ve been trying to figure out editorial synergies between our daily blog and our quarterly magazine, but the below is not exactly what we had in mind.
In the issue of the magazine that comes off the press today, attorneys Steven Beer and Maria Miles haved penned an article explaining the new Federal tax breaks for independent film, hailing it as a landmark windfall for independent film producers and investors. Today via Variety comes this disappointing article by William Triplett titled “Congress likely to take back indie tax break.”
“Possibly as soon as next month, Congress will consider dramatically reducing two key provisions that independent film producers hailed as major victories in last year’s corporate tax bill,” writes Triplett.
“After years of lobbying, indies rejoiced upon learning in October that President Bush had signed the bill, which included a sweeping tax break for filmmakers and an incentive for financiers to invest in indie films. But congressional staff members now say the two provisions appear to be ‘oversights’ that should be ‘corrected.’…
‘This was a bona-fide tax subsidy to encourage film financing in the U.S.,’ said Schuyler Moore, an entertainment industry tax expert. ‘It’s very hard to raise money for these films, and this is just what was needed’…. But Moore said he recently learned that Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation believes the provision was unintended, and that profits should be taxed at 35%, the normal income tax rate for million-dollar sums. ‘If that happens, they will eliminate the tax-savings incentive for raising money,’ Moore said. ‘They said they want to amend the statute, but they might as well just repeal it.'”
