No Matter Who Wins at the Oscars, Taxpayers Lose on Film Subsidies
不管奥斯卡花落谁家，纳税人在电影补贴上都是输
Big screen and small get big benefits at taxpayer expense.
纳税人埋单，荧屏业大获其利
Sunday night brings the 89th Academy Awards, and many are wondering what film will take home the Oscar for Best Picture. No matter what film wins, one group of people should be thanked during the acceptance speech—taxpayers.
本周日将举办第89届奥斯卡金像奖，许多人都在猜测最佳影片将会花落谁家。但不管哪部影片得奖，获奖感言里都应该感谢一个群体：纳税人。
Film is a heavily subsidized industry, and the majority of states have tax incentive programs that lower the cost of production. These tax credits are determined by production costs, not profits, and many credits are transferrable or refundable. When a film’s tax liabilities are below its allotted refundable credits, taxpayers end up directly paying film companies the difference.
电影行业得到的补贴极大，大部分州都设置有税收激励计划，以降低制片成本。这类税收抵免额度由制片成本而非影片收益决定，而且其中许多都可以转移或补差【译注：指如果抵免额高于应税额，纳税人不但不用纳税，还能倒拿差额】。如果一部影片的应税额低于它所得的可补差抵免额，那就相当于纳税人直接向电影公司支付差额。
The Big Short, one of this year’s nominees, cost $28 million to produce and was filmed in California, Nevada, and Louisiana. All three states have film tax credit programs, but Louisiana’s 40 percent partially-transferable credit is the largest. The film’s producers made a movie about Wall Street greed, but they clearly had no problem making taxpayers pay for their production costs.
今年获提名的影片《大空头》制作成本为2800万，在加利福尼亚、内华达和路易斯安那三地拍摄。三个州都有电影业税收抵免计划，不过，路易斯安那的40%部分可转移税收抵免仍属其中翘楚。制片人拍摄了一部讲述华尔街之贪婪的电影，但在让纳税人为其制片成本埋单的时候，他们显然心安理得。
New York’s fully-refundable 30 percent film tax credit is the most generous in the nation, with an annual limit of $420 million. Brooklyn and Bridge of Spies, two of this year’s nominees, were filmed in New York, and their budgets were $12 million and $40 million, respectively.
要论慷慨，全国之最当数纽约的30%全额可补差电影业税收抵免，每年最高限额是4.2亿。本年度有两部提名电影在纽约拍摄，《布鲁克林》和《间谍之桥》，费用分别达到1200万和4000万。
States are starting to realize that the economic benefits of film tax credits are pure fantasy, like some movie plots. In 2012, 40 states offered tax incentives, at a total cost of $1.4 billion, but since then some states have decided that maintaining roads, funding schools, staffing police departments, and letting residents keep more income are better uses of funds. Since last year’s Oscars, Alaska, Michigan, and Illinois all ended their film tax credit programs. (See my testimony for the Alaska Senate on the false promise of film tax credits here).
许多州已经开始意识到，电影业税收抵免的经济利好效应就跟某些电影情节一样纯属空想。2012年，有40个州提供此类税收激励，总共耗费14亿。但自此以后，一些州已经决定，维护公路、资助学校、充实警力以及让居民手中存留更多收入才是对资金的更好使用。上届奥斯卡以来，阿拉斯加、密歇根和伊利诺伊等州都已经终止了电影业税收抵免计划。（可参考我在阿拉斯加州议会上就电影业税收抵免之虚假承诺所做的证言）
In contrast, California tripled its non-refundable film tax credit budget to $330 million in an effort to lure more film production back to Hollywood.
加利福尼亚则反其道行之，为吸引更多影片返回好莱坞制作，该州已经将其用于不可补差电影业税收抵免的预算增加了三倍，达到3.3亿。
It is not only Oscar-nominated movies that receive sweetheart tax deals. Television shows, including HBO’s VEEP and Netflix’s House of Cards, are two examples.
获得这种甜蜜的减税待遇的并不是只有奥斯卡提名影片。电视剧也是如此，HBO的《副总统》和Netflix的《纸牌屋》就是其中两个例子。
When Maryland did not increase its fully-refundable film tax incentive program in 2014, Netflix executives went all Frank Underwood on former governor Martin O’Malley and threatened to leave the state. Political pressure, including a Kevin Spacey visit to Annapolis, convinced Maryland to raid other funds in order to double its film tax credit budget to $15 million. This does not include the $4 million in annual lost revenue from sales tax exemptions for film production companies.
2014年，在马里兰州尚未在其全额可补差电影业税收激励计划上增加力度之际，Netflix的总监们就在前任州长Martin O’Malley面前扮演“弗兰克·安德伍德”（译注：《纸牌屋》主角，马基雅维利式政客），并且威胁要撤离该州。凯文·史派西（译注：安德伍德的扮演者）到访安纳波利斯，在诸如此类的政治压力之下，马里兰州将其电影业税收抵免预算增加一倍，达到1500万，为此砍掉了许多其他方面的资金。这还没把电影制片公司所享受的营业税免征额包含在内，每年因此少征的税收可是有400万。
Even though film tax credits are often sold as a way to help small producers, 98 percent of Maryland’s film tax credit budget over the last three years has been taken up by House of Cards and VEEP. The increased tourism argument that film tax credit proponents constantly use clearly does not apply for two shows that are set in Washington, D.C. Similarly, no one thinks of Louisiana while they are watching The Big Short.
尽管电影业税收抵免经常顶着帮助小制片公司的名头做游说，但在过去三年中，马里兰州98%的电影税收抵免款都进了《纸牌屋》和《副总统》的兜里。电影业税收抵免的鼓吹者们经常使用的抵免带动旅游业的论证，显然在这里也并不适用，因为两部剧的背景都设定在华盛顿特区。同样，在观看《大空头》时，根本没人会想起路易斯安那州。
Maryland’s handouts were still not enough to convince HBO executives to keep filming VEEP in Maryland. VEEP’s production moved to California after the state offered the show a $6.5 million tax credit.
即便如此，马里兰州的馈赠仍然不足以说服HBO的总监们继续在该州拍摄《副总统》。该片将搬到加利福利亚制作，因为加州将为该剧提供650万的税收抵免。
The Maryland Department of Legislative Services found that the state’s film tax incentive program only returns 6 cents for every dollar spent. While this return is particularly poor, the best return in any state is still less than 30 cents on the dollar.
马里兰州立法服务部发现，该州的电影业税收激励计划每花掉1美元，只能收回6美分。这么低的回报当然很极端，但各州回报表现最好的也仍然不到每美元30美分。
Jobs in the film industry are highly skilled and mobile, which means they do not create lasting economic benefits. If another state rolls out an even more generous tax credit, film production can simply pack up and leave for another soundstage. States that decide to shower the film industry with taxpayer funds are in a race to the bottom, as no credit is high enough to satisfy Hollywood executives.
电影行业所提供的工作都是技术岗位，且流动性很高，这就意味着该行业并不能创造持久的经济效益。如果另外一个州推出了更为慷慨的税收抵免计划，电影制片商只需要打个包，就能换个摄影棚。各州如果决心花纳税人的钱来馈赠电影行业，它们就是加入了一场竞相逐底的比赛，因为抵免额度无论多高都无法满足好莱坞的总监们。
Maryland’s experience of losing film productions and wasting taxpayer dollars on its program is not unique. Every independent study of film tax credits have found that the programs come nowhere close to paying for themselves. But this reality has not stopped proponents from making fanciful predictions. The Maryland Film Industry Coalition—a group dedicated to promoting the film industry—claims that each dollar in tax credits leads to $1.03 in tax revenue.
马里兰州遭制片公司抛弃、在补贴计划上浪费纳税人税金的上述经历并不罕见。所有关于电影业税收减免的独立研究都已发现，各种补贴计划均远远无法实现收支平衡。但这一事实并没能阻止其鼓吹者提出各种白日梦般的预测。“马里兰州电影行业联盟”——一个旨在促进电影行业发展的组织——宣称，税收抵免每花1美元都能带来1.03美元的税收。
The Tax Foundation’s Joseph Henchman points out that if these fanciful projections were taken seriously, the United States could pay off its national debt by simply giving the film industry $1 trillion.
“税务基金会”的Joseph Henchman指出，如果我们拿这种白日梦似的测算当真，那么美国只需要给电影行业派送1万亿，就能偿清它的全部国债了。
One study that was funded by the Motion Picture Association of American assumes that every dollar in tax credits creates $17.75 in economic activity, which leads to $1.88 in new tax revenue for the state. These claims are less realistic than the science-fiction films the credits support.
由“美国电影协会”赞助实施的一项研究提出，税收抵免每花掉1美元，就能创造出17.75美元的经济活动，而这又会为所在州形成1.88美元的新税收收入。这类说法比那些获得税收抵免补贴的科幻电影还要不切实际一些。
Film tax credit programs do not pay for themselves. They do not create long-term jobs, nor do they have tourism benefits. All film tax incentives do is provide opportunities for politicians to rub elbows with movie stars.
电影业税收抵免计划无法实现收支平衡。他们无法创造长期岗位，也不会带来旅游收益。电影业税收激励所能做的，无非是给政客们提供了和电影明星亲密往来的机会。
With the hundreds of millions of dollars that taxpayers gift the film industry each year, perhaps it is time for the Academy Awards to create an Oscar for Best Tax Break. If nothing else, taxpayers at least deserve a shout-out during Sunday’s award ceremony.
纳税人每年都向电影行业派送数亿美元的礼包，也许金像奖是时候设立一个“奥斯卡最佳减税奖”了。如果啥都没有，那么纳税人至少也应出现在周日颁奖典礼的致谢词中。
Jared Meyer is a fellow at Economics21 at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Jared Meyer是曼哈顿政策研究所Economics21分部的研究员。你可以到这里关注他的Twitter账号。
翻译：沈沉(@你在何地-sxy)
校对：辉格(@whigzhou)
编辑：辉格@whigzhou