New Mexico Tax Incentives

 

Many states around the country offer tax incentives to film and television productions in an attempt to lure the production into the state. With major motion picture and television productions comes the possibility of a state receiving a great economic benefit from having the production team located in the state as well as the use of many of the state’s resources.

While Louisiana, Georgia, and Massachusetts have been recognized as some of the states with the most favorable tax incentives, other states such as Alaska and Pennsylvania have started making a name for themselves on the list. On April 10th New Mexico has also boosted their tax incentives when Governor Susana Martinez signed a new tax incentive bill which allows production companies to pre-assign their tax rebates to third parties and which also extends a 30 percent tax credit to stand-alone pilot episodes under the condition that they shoot the show in New Mexico and encourage producers to hire and source locally.

This move marks an effort from New Mexico to join the ranks of states which offer production companies substantial tax credits in order to bring in revenue from the entertainment industry. But the new productions that may be enticed to film in New Mexico won’t be the first ones on the scene. Starting in 2008, the hit AMC television series “Breaking Bad” began their five season run by shooting on location in New Mexico.

It is no wonder that the bill signed by Governor Martinez applies to pilots which may at some point become television shows. The five seasons of filming that Breaking Bad brought to Albuquerque likely brought substantial revenue to the city and state due to the production crew and actors who stayed in New Mexico during the production as well as the locations and resources that were used throughout the series.

Although these immediate economic benefits are the majority of the reasoning behind these types of tax incentives, certain hit movies or television shows also leave a lasting impression in the area where the production was filmed. Take the sets that were used for the Breaking Bad filming for instance. Now that the film crews and sets are gone, a new type of tourism has been created in the city of Albuquerque. This type of tourism, which is often created as the result of a hit production being filmed in a certain location, is a form of “pop-culture” or “filming” tourism. Tours, guides, and maps are set up which provide tourists with information on the locations that were used for the production’s filming. http://www.visitalbuquerque.org/albuquerque/film-tourism/breaking-bad

For more information on state-by-state tax credits, contact Biletsky Law.