O’Mara blasts ‘tax breaks for Hollywood’

Albany, N.Y., March 28—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) today joined other members of the Senate Republican conference to call on  Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic leaders of the Legislature to scrap the $420-million New York State Film Tax Credit in the new state budget.

“We can’t keep choosing tax breaks for Hollywood over across-the-board tax relief for middle class workers and families, farmers, overburdened property taxpayers, small business owners, and manufacturers.  The film tax credit favors New York City over the rest of the state and that’s no longer a choice or a burden that upstate should be expected to shoulder,” said O’Mara.

O’Mara and his Senate GOP colleagues are calling for the $420-million tax credit to be eliminated as part of the final 2019-2020 state budget. 

They say that what began as a relatively modest $25-million tax credit is now the second-largest film industry subsidy in the United States. The legislators highlighted figures showing that over 90 percent of film tax credits go to New York City and that filming in the city would have gone forward even without the state-financed incentive.