ABQJOURNAL OPINION/EDITORIALS: Give Taxpayers a Peek at Expenses They Pay

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Handling of Pit Appeal Calls for a Time-Out

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by editorial page staff and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers

Monday, June 29, 2009

Give Taxpayers a Peek at Expenses They Pay

          Give Taxpayers a Peek
        At Expenses They Pay
        The state Taxation and Revenue Department says details on the $86.5 million New Mexicans have forked over to film companies between July 1, 2007, and March 16 are private tax information. Gov. Bill Richardson's Office says what film companies like Wild Hogs Productions spend their money on is secret proprietary information — even if they're reimbursed from your tax dollars 25 percent of what they spend.
        Eric Witt, Richardson's deputy chief of staff and film adviser, justifies the secrecy as a privacy need similar to taxpayers who get credit for dependents. Some in the film industry have gone so far as to say the information is protected from disclosure under a "constitutionally protected right of privacy."
        Hogwash.
        These "tax credits" are really plain old reimbursements for expenses, and the rationale for keeping them secret as confidential tax information falls as flat as "Swing Vote" did at the box office. (New Mexicans paid Swing Vote LLC $3 million.)
        Rep. Dennis Kintigh, a Roswell Republican, is right to question the secrecy. Tax and Rev can call the checks it cuts — like the one for $8.5 million to Wild Hogs Productions — "film production tax credits" under state law, but there's no W-2 or 1099 or 1040 or any other tax form involved. Producers submit what amount to expense-account claims, Tax and Rev audits them, and taxpayers cover the check.
        Kintigh says he's "not trying to kill the industry. I would just like to get all the data out" on the program. With dueling studies on the economic impact of the film industry on New Mexico, he points out releasing the expenses claimed by production companies would go a long way toward ending the debate by showing high-impact expenses (like wages to New Mexicans) vs. low-impact ones (equipment rental).
        "I want to assess this program," he says. "Let's put it all out on the table for people to see."
        Let's. If it's important for movie moguls to keep the amount they spend on John Travolta's trailer or Kevin Costner's hairdresser a state secret, then they shouldn't ask for state money to pay those bills.
        This reimbursement program appears to be an economic development incentive worth keeping. But the public deserves to know how its money is spent.

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