Taxes and Unions driving business away when needed most

[Perchoutofwater]

Should We Now Call Him 'Captain England'?

by Mike Ryan · May 19, 2010

 

Based on this news, it would only seem appropriate that Steve Rogers be demoted to at least Lieutenant America.

 

First, budget constraints forced producers to move "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" production from its titular tropical location to the tax-friendlier confines of Hawaii and London. Now, the same money concerns have sent "Captain America" overseas: the movie about the most patriotic of comic-book heroes will, ironically, not be filmed in America.

The loss of production business from "Captain America: The First Avenger" is another blow to the city of Los Angeles, which has seen its share of big-budget films flee to escape the heavy tax burden its state levees on films. California offers tax credits to smaller films but, considering "Captain America's" budget is $140 million, it didn't qualify for a break. London offers tax credits up to 25 percent. When faced with the current economic climate, it's hard to argue with those numbers -patriotic or not.

 

Sure, some of the "Captain America" adaptation is literally set in London; for those scenes, that location makes perfect sense. But it also makes perfect sense for Captain America, once he's done fighting Nazis, to also show a little patriotism and film seems in his home country. But, as any American knows - including its Captain - money talks.

 

Also ironic: California's taxes have been a boon to the British Columbian city of Vancouver, which in recent years has seen a boom of what would've otherwise been big Hollywood business (films such as the "Twilight Saga" have found a production home north of the border).

But there is an added sense of loss - not counting the hundreds of Hollywood jobs that will disappear - because it is, you know, Captain America. This was a character that was created a full year before Pearl Harbor was even bombed by Japan. Cover art of early Captain America books showed the hero punching Adolph Hitler in the jaw as a way of showing America's support for its European allies.

Big budget movies being filmed overseas to avoid costs isn't an entirely new phenomenon. George Lucas filmed all three "Star Wars" prequels in Australia to avoid union costs (Lucas has been a stong opponent to unions after a disagreement between him and the directors' guild over the title sequence of original "Star Wars" not listing the cast). Of the six films, only "Return of the Jedi" featured live-action scenes filmed in the United States.

 

Considering the recent rash of films switching from locations that actually includes the location in the film's title, it won't be too long before it's discovered that "Sleepless in Seattle" was actually filmed in Albuquerque.

 

"Captain America: The First Avenger," starring Chris Evans as the title character, is slated for a Summer 2011 release.

 

Link

 

If Captain America is moving because of unions and taxes how many other jobs are doing the same? Wouldn't we be better off SEIU president wasn't the most frequent visitor to the Whitehouse? Wouldn't we be better off with a consumption tax on end products in lieu of an income tax? How many more jobs are taxes and unions going to send over seas?

Edited May 21, 2010 by Perchoutofwater

[wiegie]

some of the "Captain America" adaptation is literally set in London; for those scenes, that location makes perfect sense.

 

Of course, I guess I could argue that it is the high business taxes and high union density in Michigan that drives banana producers out of the state.

[Perchoutofwater]

Of course, I guess I could argue that it is the high business taxes and high union density in Michigan that drives banana producers out of the state.

 

8 movies mentioned you picked one sentence about one move that has "some" scenes where they are actually filming it. I'm betting there are also "some" scenes from the US. Sad wiegie, just sad.

[tazinib1]

Ummm...unions are not driving productions out of the country . Film tax incentives offered by other states are driving productions out of CALIFORNIA. There are over 200 films listed to be filmed in California starting in June alone. I love how these reporters get 1 small piece of information and speculate 90% of the article into "The Sky is Falling" gibberish.

 

If you want to blame somebody for the majority of productions moving away from Hollywood, then the Governator is your man. By not offering competitive film tax incentives (Michigan is around 30% without checking). California? Less than 10%. Yeah Arnold, thanks for throwing the industry that got you where you are under the bus. Mother Penny Laneer!!!

[Perchoutofwater]

Ummm...unions are not driving productions out of the country . Film tax incentives offered by other states are driving productions out of CALIFORNIA. There are over 200 films listed to be filmed in California starting in June alone. I love how these reporters get 1 small piece of information and speculate 90% of the article into "The Sky is Falling" gibberish.

 

If you want to blame somebody for the majority of productions moving away from Hollywood, then the Governator is your man. By not offering competitive film tax incentives (Michigan is around 30% without checking). California? Less than 10%. Yeah Arnold, thanks for throwing the industry that got you where you are under the bus. Mother Penny Laneer!!!

 

Ahnold is not my man. He is far from conservative. He was better then the idiot he replaced, but not by much.

[SayItAintSoJoe]

Captain America is lame anyways. So he's got an indestuctible shield. Big deal.

[driveby]

I'm having a hard time squaring this;

 

Unions to spend $100M in 2010 campaign to save Dem majorities

 

with this;

 

Some members of Congress seem to like putting taxpayers on the hook for practically unlimited liabilities. The latest Congressional Budget Office forecasts 2020 public debt climbing to 90% of GDP under President Obama's 2011 Budget. This is not enough for Senator Robert Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat and habitual ally of labor, who now wants Americans to bail out union pension plans underfunded by hundreds of billions of dollars.

[Kid Cid]

So the kids they dance and shake their bones

while the politicians are throwing stones

singing ashes to ashes all fall down

ashes to ashes all fall down

[Ursa Majoris]

Link

 

If Captain America is moving because of unions and taxes how many other jobs are doing the same? Wouldn't we be better off SEIU president wasn't the most frequent visitor to the Whitehouse? Wouldn't we be better off with a consumption tax on end products in lieu of an income tax? How many more jobs are taxes and unions going to send over seas?

Why would you care if a movie is made in LA or Boise?

 

And how do you square your implication that taxes in London are less than in the US? Isn't it a fact that taxes in socialist Europe are higher than our free market paradise?

 

Of course, you could just completely overlook the REAL reason movies go wherever - subsidies. And shouldn't you be joining with me and condemning subsidies?