“Don’t California our Arizona.” It’s a saying we’ve had around here for quite some time, and for good reason. Not only is California known for having ridiculously high tax rates, but woke policies in the state have:
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- Banned the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035.
- Banned all natural gas appliances (like the gas stove) by 2035.
- Led to an increase in smash-and-grab robberies after Prop 47 more than doubled the felony threshold for petty theft and shoplifting.
- Dramatically increased homelessness despite throwing billions of dollars at the problem.
- Led to rolling blackouts during historic heat.
The list could go on and on. But it’s pretty clear. California’s policies have been a disaster, so much so that the state once ran out of U-Hauls because so many people were leaving. And yet, despite all this, Arizona lawmakers still decided to send your hard-earned dollars to woke Hollywood liberals through a movie tax credit bill last year. And while we hate to say we told you so, that decision now appears to be coming back to haunt Arizonans.
Earlier this week, it was announced that DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg’s political operation will be joining forces with Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs to launch a PAC here in our state. And what is the PAC’s primary goal? Making sure Democrats win control of our state legislature! And you can be certain that Hobbs will gladly reward her woke allies in Hollywood with your tax dollars—all the while fighting to stop Arizona’s kids from receiving $7,000 to pursue an educational experience that works for them.
This is the exact reason why the Club fought so heavily against the movie tax credit bill (HB2156) in the first place. The legislation gives movie companies refundable tax credit subsidies up to 15 percent if they spend up to $10 million in productions costs, 17.5 percent if they spend between $10 million and $35 million, and 20 percent if they spend over $35 million. Plus, there’s an opportunity for an additional 2.5 percent if the movie company meets other criteria. With the average cost of making a movie over $100 million, that means the vast majority of movie companies will benefit from the highest possible percentage.
So how much of your tax dollars will be given away to liberal movie studios like DreamWorks that want to turn Arizona Blue?
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- $75 million in 2023
- $100 million in 2024
- And $125 million in 2025 and each year thereafter
But our state has to be getting jobs or something else out of this, right? Wrong. Countless studies on Hollywood subsidies conducted by both liberal and conservative economists have concluded that these tax credit schemes are a ripoff. One recent study found that despite $10 billion in taxpayer spending, there was no statistically significant impact on employment. Womp…womp…
That means the only thing Arizonans have to look forward to thanks to this ridiculous piece of legislation is Hollywood liberals like Jeffrey Katzenberg leveraging cash from Arizona taxpayers to push their woke agenda and elect Democrats. All while making movies bashing America using our state as the backdrop.
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