A second public hearing on state tax credits is set for this afternoon in Urbandale. The film industry credit that led to the state review of all credits was part of the discussion at the first public hearing Tuesday in Cedar Rapids. The film tax credit was suspended in September after allegations of mismanagement and abuse.
Supporters of the credit like Kathy Buxton, the C-E-O of animation studio in Mount Pleasant, urged state leaders to improve the credit rather than get rid of it. Buxton says the opportunity to create jobs and pump thousands of dollars into local economies is too good to pass up.
Buxton says,” The challenge is do you just throw your hands up and turn the board over and say I don’t want to play or do you say, well let’s look at this again.”
Buxton and other supporters suggested multiple changes to the incentive. One idea is to slowly develop Iowa’s film industry with a five-year plan that would gradually give incentives to bigger budget productions. Opponents say the tax break is a bad idea because there’s a budget shortfall. A panel of state department heads will make recommendations to the Governor about what to do with all of the the state’s 30 plus tax credits.