Display Date
The angel investor tax credit: A tarnished halo? In Minnesota, a tax break for wealthy investors in start-up companies helped generate 579 jobs between 2010 and 2014. But it cost state taxpayers $60 million, or $100,000 per job. Was it worth it? The angel investor tax credit expires next year—when the state legislature will try to break a stalemate over tax cuts that left over $800 million in the state’s coffers this year.
Hollywood credits tax credits for its recent boom. Last year, California tripled and expanded eligibility for tax incentives for film and television production. Compared to the same period last year, the number of shooting days in the past quarter for scripted television shows filmed in Los Angeles increased by 54 percent. The owner of a catering firm that services the industry says he hasn’t been as busy in 17 years, and a prop supplier says sales are up 25 percent over last year’s. Of course, if those films weren’t being made in LA, they’d be made somewhere else, where another caterer or prop supplier would get the business. The current set of tax incentives expires in 2021.
New House Speaker Paul Ryan made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows. Yesterday he said it would be “impossible” to work with President Obama on immigration legislation but said the congressional Republicans should be willing to take “policy risks” on issues such as taxes and health reform. Meanwhile, the House could vote as soon as this week on Ryan’s replacement as Ways & Means Committee chair. One potential candidate, Devin Nunes, will not run, leaving the race between Representatives Pat Tiberi and Kevin Brady.
A federal gas tax increase: One more try. Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon will introduce an amendment to increase the 18-cent-per-gallon tax by 15 cents. He wants to attach the measure to the $325 billion highway bill that the House may consider this week. The Democrat said of that bill, “Congress will be back to square one when that money runs out, facing an even bigger hole in the Highway Trust Fund… once again throwing hundreds of thousands of jobs into uncertainty.” Congress wants a six-year transportation bill but can’t agree on how to fund it.
Election Day: It’s tomorrow, too. TPC’s Richard Auxier explains the high stakes ballot measures before voters in Washington, Ohio, Colorado, and Texas. The questions are simple—but the politics are confusing.
Interested in subscribing to the Daily Deduction, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center summary of the day’s tax news? Sign-up here to get the Daily Deduction delivered to your inbox every morning. If you’d like to tell us about a new research paper or have any comments about our feature, write us at dailydeduction “at” taxpolicycenter “dot” org.