Voight, Stallone and entertainment groups put pressure on Trump for tax provisions

By Samantha Masunaga
Los Angeles Times
(TNS)

The so-called Hollywood ambassadors Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone have joined a coalition of entertainment industry groups for a letter delivered this week to President Trump exhorting the exhortant to support tax measures and a federal tax incentive which would help bring the production of film and television to the United States

The letter is signed by Voight, Stallone, all the main Hollywood unions and trade groups such as the Motion Picture Association, the Producers Guild of America and the Independent Film & Television Alliance, indicating broad support from the entertainment industry.

“The return more production in the United States will require a national approach and political solutions based on large … as well as longer-term initiatives such as the implementation of a federal incentive on cinema and television tax,” said the letter.

In the letter, which has been obtained by the Times, the groups say that they support Trump’s proposal to create a new tax rate of companies of 15% for national manufacturing activities which would use a provision of the old section 199 of the Federal Tax Code as a model.

As part of the previous 199 section, which expired in 2017, cinematographic and television productions that were carried out in the United States was qualified as national manufacturing and were eligible for this tax deduction, the letter said.

The letter also asks Trump to extend article 181 of the federal tax code and to increase the ceilings on film production and television expenses qualified as tax, as well as to restore the capacity to make losses, which, according to the groups, would offer production companies more financial stability.

Tax measures – in particular sections 199 and 181 – are problems for the entertainment industry for a long time pleaded, according to two people familiar with the question which were not authorized to comment on publicly. The letter itself met this weekend, they said. It was intended to present various measures which shared the same objective of increasing domestic production, said a person.

“Everything we can do to help producers slip their budgets is important,” said Susan Sprung, director general of producers Guild of America. “In an ideal world, we would like a federal tax incentive, in addition to these tax provisions, but we want to plead to make the easiest to produce in the United States and make it as profitable as possible.”

Last week, Trump threw the entertainment industry in chaos after initially suggesting a 100% price On the films made in other countries. Then, the governor of California Gavin Newsom jumped in the mixture, Call for a federal tax incentive of $ 7.5 billion To keep more productions in the United States

Proposals at the federal level come as states increase their own cinematographic and televised tax credits to better compete and other countries. At the end of last week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the state budget, which increased the ceiling for his cinematographic tax credit to $ 800 million per year, compared to $ 700 million.

The enlarged tax incentive program allocates $ 100 million to independent studios and grants additional incentives to companies that produce two or more projects in New York and engage at least $ 100 million in qualified expenditure.

The program was also extended until 2036, which could help attract television producers, who often want to know that their set location is engaged if they are launching into a series.

Production in New York was slow, and the state needed this boost, said Michael Hackman, Managing Director of Hackman Capital Partners, who has two cinematographic and televised studio properties in the state, as well as several facilities in California. New York increase could also push California to increase its own film and television tax credit program.

Last year, Newsom called upon to increase the annual amount allocated to the California film and television credit from $ 330 million to $ 750 million.

Two bills are currently going through the state legislature which would expand incentives by California, in particular by increasing the tax credit to cover up to 35% of skilled expenses (or 40% in areas outside the Los Angeles region), as well as to extend the types of productions that would be eligible for incentives.

“We have the best infrastructure, the best talent, we have everything for us,” said Hackman. “So, if our state legislature can become more competitive with our tax credits, I think more productions will remain. But if they don’t, it will lead to more productions that continue to leave the state and go to New York and other places. “

Photo legend: Sylvester Stallone attends AMFAR, the Gala Foundation for Aids Research in Wynn Las Vegas on November 22, 2024 (Nina Prommer / Zuma Press Wire / Alamy Stock Photo)

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