New Mexico’s whining film industry

Your business already gets 25 cents on the dollar from the taxpayers of New Mexico and now you want a veritable monopoly on state contracts? As a taxpayer, I’d love to get my money back from the film industry (hundreds of dollars of direct subsidies per taxpayer over the years). I also question whether the state needs to use my money to pay for statewide advertising to subsidize the tourism industry. Couldn’t tourism-dependent businesses do a better job themselves? But that is another story.

IF the state is going to create these ad campaigns, they should find the best, most cost-effective company, regardless of geography, and go with them (that goes for all government contracts). Demanding that such contracts be handled in-state is yet another subsidy. Perhaps, we could kill two birds with one stone and reduce the subsidy rate in exchange for a pledge to film all future ad campaigns in New Mexico with in-state talent? I doubt they’d go for it, but it is worth a shot and it would be fairer to the beleaguered taxpayer who is currently paying twice. In a rational world, the film industry would be thanking their lucky starts for the forced generosity of New Mexico’s taxpayers.