As if $420 million in annual handouts to the film and television industries wasn’t enough, New York State legislators are now proposing to give millions to the music industry and Broadway.
Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, D-Brooklyn, introduced legislationcreating a music credit that would reimburse 20 percent of production expenses, including artists’ royalties, session fees, music videos and marketing, and would cost New York up to $60 million a year. Theater fans are getting some love from Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam, and Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, who crafted a $5 million credit for 30 percent of a show’s production costs in an attempt to attract touring theater companies to upstate locations.
New York already has a history of subsidizing its entertainment industry, which is the beneficiary of a $420 million film and TV production tax credit (that has been used in some cases to film shows about New York City in New York City). The governor’s tax commission has found that the credit doesn’t pay for itself — which means the state is spending money to attract a lot of films and TV shows that would have been produced here in any event.
New York is already a well established bastion for music production, including writing, recording and producing. According to data from the U.S. Labor of Bureau Statistics, New York in 2012 had the second-highest number of “musicians and singers,” trailing only California. New York also had the most “musical directors and composers” in 2012 and the third highest concentration as a percentage of jobs in the state.
And while Tennessee, which has a music tax credit, has a high number and high concentration of musicians and singers, Louisiana, Georgia and Oklahoma, which have their own music credits, didn’t crack the top five in 2012 for concentration or number of musicians and singers.
As for New York’s upstate theaters, they’re already the beneficiaries of millions in public money. For example, Proctors Theater in Schenectady — whose CEO, Philip Morr
is, is championing the theater credit — was awarded about $3.5 million in Regional Economic Development Councilfunds in December.
Instead of spending millions to preserve a music industry that isn’t going anywhere or prop up a fledgling upstate theater community, New York’s valuable tax dollars would be better off in the pockets of current residents and businesses.
You may also like
Parsing the Impact of Mamdani’s Tax Hike Plans
The front-running candidate for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has said he can finance his costly campaign promises – including free buses and universal child care – by taxing only a sliver of the city's residents Read More
Why New York’s Health Premiums Keep Going Up
New Yorkers continue to face some of the costliest health premiums in the U.S., and the insurance industry's recently finalized rate applications shed light on why that is.
In summa Read More
Two Dozen School Districts Are Returning to the Polls for Budget Revotes
Voters in 24 New York school districts return to the polls on Tuesday for school budget revotes. Last month, voters in 96 percent of school districts outside New York City conducting votes approved their school budgets for the upcoming year.
The 683 sc Read More
Even With Federal Cuts, New York’s Health Funding Would Remain High
New York's health-care industry stands to lose billions of dollars in federal funding under the major budget bill being debated in Washington – a rare and jarring turn of events for a sector accustomed to steadily increas Read More
Highlights of Albany’s Bloated and Belated Budget
The state Legislature approved the last of nine budget bills Thursday evening, 38 days after the start of the fiscal year. Here are some highlights of the fiscal impact of final spending plan:
Top lines
Read More
Forcing Homes to Switch to Electric Heat is not a Good Policy
New York has some of the most ambitious climate goals in the country: electric school buses by 2035, zero emissions electricity by 2040, etc. Why New Yorkers, who already consume less energy per capita than any state (other than Rhode Island), s Read More
After Tariff Shock, Albany Should Face its New Fiscal Reality
This year, for once, state lawmakers' failure to pass a timely budget could prove to be a stroke of luck.
When President Trump rolled out his on April 2, Albany leaders had not agreed on a spending plan for the f Read More
New York’s Proposed ‘MCO Tax’ Would Generate a Fraction of What Lawmakers Expected
The Hochul administration's proposed "MCO tax" would generate far less than the $4 billion in extra federal aid anticipated by state lawmakers when they approved the concept this spring, according to documents obtained by t Read More