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  3. Lots of states would love to be California and have their own little Hollywood. Film crews would then come to town and spend mon

Lots of states would love to be California and have their own little Hollywood. Film crews would then come to town and spend mon

admin2021-02-21  95
问题    Lots of states would love to be California and have their own little Hollywood. Film crews would then come to town and spend money in hair salons and hotels, and local politicians could pose with film stars. So why not call it "economic development" to justify the huge tax credits that lure film producers?
   As of last year, more than 40 states had such incentives, costing them a record $1.4 billion. Even California itself plays the game, believing that it has to defend itself against the competitors. In 2003, when only a handful of states offered incentives, California made two-thirds of America’s big-studio films. Now it makes far fewer than half. Film LA, an organisation that co-ordinates permits for film shoots in Los Angeles, says that without California’s own tax credit, "2010 would have been the worst year" since the mid-1990s for filming in Hollywood. As its marketing blog satires: "It is extraordinarily unlikely that the 137 productions that filmed in Michigan since 2007 chose to shoot there for creative reasons, a favourable climate or a deep and talented film-crew base."
   All this costs money, which legislators volunteer on behalf of taxpayers. Many tax credits (a percentage of a film crew’s local expenditures) exceed the filmmaker’s total tax liability to that state. The credits have even become an industry unto themselves: brokers divide them into parts and trade them. In Iowa, filmmakers were selling their credits until that state shut its programme in 2009.
   Incentives do not have to involve tax credits. Some states simplify the paperwork by just giving out cash (calling it "rebates" or "grants"). Others exempt film-makers from sales or hotel taxes or give them subsidies.
   All this is silly. First, as Joseph Henchman at the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan think-tank, puts it, even when a state succeeds in luring film crews, they rarely boost the economy or tax revenues enough to justify the costs of the incentives. Joseph Henchman says, film companies usually import their staff and export them again when the shoot is over. The local jobs they create (hairdressers, sound technicians, pizza deliverers) are mostly temporary.
   Second, since virtually all states are at it, the programmes largely cancel out one another; no state gets a lasting advantage. The craze resembles a beggar-thy-neighbour trade war (with mutually destructive tariffs) or the federal tax code with its loopholes for every lobby and thus higher rates for all. In the language of nuclear war, it would be mutually assured destruction (MAD). The only winner is the film industry. In essence, a man of wealth in a Brentwood villa gets money from a poor taxpayer in West Virginia.
   Fortunately, this has begun sinking in. Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey and Washington have recently ended, suspended or shrunk their programmes. Many others, struggling with budget deficits, are considering doing the same, investing the money in something permanent, or even leaving it to taxpayers. "2010 will likely stand as the peak year," thinks Mr Henchman.
   [A] suggests that Hollywood’s film industry avoided hitting bottom due to California’s tax credit
   [B] believes that film industry is unable to create permanent jobs.
   [C] makes two-thirds of America’s big-studio films all the time.
   [D] offers incentives to its film industry to compete with other states.
   [E] holds that the trend of offering incentives to film industry may peak in 2010.
   [F] thinks that benefits gained from film companies can’t compensate for the costs of incentives.
   [G] has changed its incentive programme for film industry.
Joseph Henchman
选项
答案F
解析 Joseph Henchman出现在第五段。该段中Joseph Henchman说到，一个州即便成功地吸引到了摄制人员，也难以补偿激励措施造成的损失，因为没能实现足够的经济增长或者税收的增加。F中的benefits是对原文中boost the economy or tax revenues的概括，film companies对应文中的film crews，而can’t compensate for是文中rarely…to justify的同义转述，故本题答案为F。
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