, in the state because of the program and the production infrastructure built as a result of it.
The change significantly lowers value of the credits to studios because only companies that have existing tax liability in the state would be able to utilize them. Production companies often don’t owe much in taxes to Georgia because they aren’t based there.“If producers can’t monetize the credit, they won’t film there,” Chianese says.
In 2020, state auditors found that nearly 90 percent of the credits went to non-Georgia companies and a majority of labor expenditures went to out-of-state residents. While the credits result in more in-state film production spending and some of the money ends up in the hands of Georgians, most of it leaves the state when the camera stops rolling, according to Kennesaw State University professor of economics J.C. Bradbury.