Lights, cameras — tax credits! That's the way New York's distorted tax system now works. But that can change if Gov. Cuomo pushes reforms proposed by one of his own tax-reform panels.
The governor asked his panel, the New York State Tax Reform and Fairness Commission, to find ways to simplify the tax code, make taxes fairer and lighten the load. The panel is now suggesting good reforms. These include a cut of $50 million in film-industry credits, which are meant to push companies to make more movies and TV shows here.
Right now the state's welfare-for-movie-moguls costs taxpayers $420 million a year. An addendum to the panel's report notes that many of these millions are not really reductions in taxes at all but cash grants. That makes them doubly pernicious, because they're written into the tax code and thus don't get the yearly budget review and approval other spending programs do.
Too bad the panel did not include this addendum with the release of its report. It was funded privately by Blackstone founder Peter G. Peterson and the Peter J. Solomon Family Foundation — and its findings are spot on.
Among other things, this addendum undermines claims that the film subsidies "pay for themselves" by luring firms here. It notes that the industry's jobs account for less than 1 percent of state employment — even as production companies enjoy 22 percent of state business-tax credits. "The majority of taxpayers," the report says, pay a higher price to benefit a small few.
Readers of these pages will remember The Post has long complained about the injustice of using the tax dollars from hard-working New Yorkers to bribe stars like Jimmy Fallon and Howard Stern — while leaving bodegas, dry cleaners and other less-glamorous businesses out in the cold.
The best way for New York to attract the investment we need is to end handouts for favored firms and lower taxes and regulation for all. Let's start by letting the film tax credits fade to black.
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