Rep. Danny McComas says he hopes that there is still time during the current legislative session to extend the state’s film tax incentives. McComas, D-New Hanover, said extending the credit could help North Carolina score the sequel to Marvel Studios’ 2011 film “Captain America: The First Avenger.” The production company, he said, is pushing for the legislation. According to its website, Marvel has announced the sequel will be released April 4, 2014. The proposal, though, appears to lack support in the Senate. Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Tuesday that his intention was to stick to a plan to have all tax-credit programs end effective Jan. 1, 2014. Current state law prohibits film companies from receiving credits for any qualifying expenses incurred on or after Jan. 1, 2014. Extending the credit for a year would allow film companies that spend money in the state in 2014 to receive the credit. Rucho is expected to be at the forefront of the Republican-controlled General Assembly’s tax-modernization movement in 2013. Ending all of tax programs at the same time, Rucho said, would allow all new tax programs to start “on the same cycle.” Asked whether an exception could be made for the film program, Rucho responded: “I can’t see it happening.” But McComas, who is serving his final days after 18 years in the state House, said he remained hopeful that film incentives could be extended in the session’s final days, when “a lot of strange things happen.” He said he couldn’t immediately say what piece of legislation the film incentives language could be added to. “It’s coming,” he said. “I can’t tell you yet where it’s going to be.”
by Patrick Gannon
(WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS)
06/27/12
