Posts Tagged Georgia

The other night, while scrolling Netflix for something to watch, I settled on “Don’t Look Up,” a cautionary tale that uses an earth-destroying meteor as a proxy for climate change. I instantly thought – how much in subsidies did this movie get? But I know the answer, because it’s almost always the same: I cannot tell and won’t be able to find out for another couple of years. Here is why.

The U.S. Treasury recently issued its final rule on the eligible uses of the American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSLFRF). The guidelines also clarify what funds may not be used for. Notably, the Treasury said they can’t be used for general economic development purposes.

We spent this summer collecting data for the latest Subsidy Tracker update, which now is posted online and available to users. This update consists mostly of local data; however, we also added state data and four megadeals.

As states and localities finally start to disclose how much revenue they lose to corporate welfare (thanks to GASB Statement 77*), we continue to see laggards and leaders.

Today we spotlight Georgia (which has failed to comply, claiming taxpayer confidentiality for numbers that have long been public) and Bernalillo

States are following different scripts on the contentious issue of film subsidies. Michigan, Florida, Louisiana and Massachusetts are cutting back while Georgia continues to deal out major incentives to the industry.