State benefits from tax credits
June 1st, 2008 | by admin |After reading the article concerning the film tax credits in Massachusetts, I feel compelled to respond (”State helping pay for TV ads,” May 27).
I am a working, union actor who lives in Rhode Island. I have been working consistently in Massachusetts for the past four months and can tell you firsthand how valuable the tax credit law is to Massachusetts.
There are several big-budget movies being filmed. They employ thousands of people and generate income through taxes paid. Additionally, film people contribute to the economy by living in the state while their films are in production.
For the state to be known as a film production mecca can also only be a plus.
Finally, how can a tax credit that generates 75 percent of something be detrimental? If these films were not being shot in Massachusetts, the state would be receiving 100 percent of nothing.
Angela Ryding,
Warwick, R.I.
Films create jobs I’ve heard of beating a dead horse, but state Representative Steve D’Amico has resorted to beating a live foal.
I’m working on a feature film shoot in Worcester, and there are 170 people on the crew sheet. That’s a lot of lunch money for us Massachusetts natives who, by the way, pay their full taxes. With Governor Patrick’s desire to create 100,000 new jobs, maybe there’s another side to the story? A happy side?
Dave Waller,
Malden
Bay State’s not that welcoming The Globe asks how Boston-area companies can persuade students to stay in Boston after graduation (”State must stop the student exodus,” May 25).
From college in the Midwest I went directly to Boston-area employment, and I lived there for 10 years. Eventually, family ties pulled me back home to Chicago, but Boston also gave me a push.
Boston-area housing is expensive, so students and people entering the job market live at the bottom of the housing market. Every place I called home had significant drawbacks. I felt lucky not to be overrun by cockroaches the way most of my friends were, and my high-tech salary was never enough to buy a reasonable residence.
Driving in Boston is a horror, and public transportation won’t get you to all those jobs on routes 128 or 495. Mornings at the office were dominated by traffic effects: people complaining loudly or hiding until they felt civil.
New Englanders’ dislike of outsiders is the stuff of legend, and I felt it frequently. I got the message repeatedly that I wasn’t welcome.
I had good experiences in Boston, too, and I miss people, places, and activities. But in Chicago I can afford better lodging, I can get to work and back home without negotiating traffic twice a day, and I’m not getting messages to go away; I don’t belong there.
Rick Simkin,
Chicago
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