SamanthaJane13
Demon Pazuzu/B!tchGoddess
Shayna Leah Shayna Leah – Sun Feb 20, 1:21 pm ET
COMMENTARY | Sarah Palin is often erratic, hard to understand and generally confusing, but one point that she is usually pretty consistent on is her insistence that government spending at all levels should be reduced.
Turns out that is only true for cutting funding for women's health initiatives, but not when it means enriching herself. While governor of Alaska in 2008, Palin signed a set of hefty tax incentives into law for film and television producers who spend at least $100,000 in Alaska.
According to the Palin-=created Alaska Film Office, the credits can total up to 44 percent of the amount spent in the state. The tax credits are transferable, which greatly increases their value to corporations and other entities that may not have large Alaska state income tax liabilities. Because the credits are transferable, organizations, like the producers of Sarah Palin's Alaska, can sell them to companies that can use them to lower how much income taxes they have to pay the state of Alaska.
The out-of-state company gets to recoup the costs of filming in Alaska, the in-state company pays less taxes and, in theory, Alaska benefits from temporary jobs and other commerce. In this case, however, it seems Palin is the biggest beneficiary.
The Anchorage Daily News has reported that as a result of the special interest tax credits that Palin ensured would be available to her, the producers of Sarah Palin's Alaska, will be able to recoup $1.2 million of the $3.6 million that the show, which aired on TLC, claims to have spent while filming her propaganda filled reality show.
While other shows, like the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch and the History Channel's Ice Road Truckers, have also taken advantage of the taxpayer financed subsidy, Palin's show has profited the most.
Palin, clearly thinking of her future strategic use of the generous subsidy in advance of her planned 2012 presidential run, created the law as one that would be good until 2013. It is funded with $100 million, though state legislators in Alaska are mulling over expanding the program an additional 10 years and $200 million if the program is successful. It is unclear how they plan to measure the program's success, other than by how much Palin takes advantage of it.
Though she takes pride is displaying her obvious wealth on her television show, it is even more clear how greedy Palin is. After all, despite criticizing President Barack Obama's budget cuts as being "minuscule" on her Facebook page, Palin seems to have no problem raiding the state tax coffers to line her own pockets -- whether she needs to or not.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110220...jA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNzYXJhaHBhbGluMzk-
COMMENTARY | Sarah Palin is often erratic, hard to understand and generally confusing, but one point that she is usually pretty consistent on is her insistence that government spending at all levels should be reduced.
Turns out that is only true for cutting funding for women's health initiatives, but not when it means enriching herself. While governor of Alaska in 2008, Palin signed a set of hefty tax incentives into law for film and television producers who spend at least $100,000 in Alaska.
According to the Palin-=created Alaska Film Office, the credits can total up to 44 percent of the amount spent in the state. The tax credits are transferable, which greatly increases their value to corporations and other entities that may not have large Alaska state income tax liabilities. Because the credits are transferable, organizations, like the producers of Sarah Palin's Alaska, can sell them to companies that can use them to lower how much income taxes they have to pay the state of Alaska.
The out-of-state company gets to recoup the costs of filming in Alaska, the in-state company pays less taxes and, in theory, Alaska benefits from temporary jobs and other commerce. In this case, however, it seems Palin is the biggest beneficiary.
The Anchorage Daily News has reported that as a result of the special interest tax credits that Palin ensured would be available to her, the producers of Sarah Palin's Alaska, will be able to recoup $1.2 million of the $3.6 million that the show, which aired on TLC, claims to have spent while filming her propaganda filled reality show.
While other shows, like the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch and the History Channel's Ice Road Truckers, have also taken advantage of the taxpayer financed subsidy, Palin's show has profited the most.
Palin, clearly thinking of her future strategic use of the generous subsidy in advance of her planned 2012 presidential run, created the law as one that would be good until 2013. It is funded with $100 million, though state legislators in Alaska are mulling over expanding the program an additional 10 years and $200 million if the program is successful. It is unclear how they plan to measure the program's success, other than by how much Palin takes advantage of it.
Though she takes pride is displaying her obvious wealth on her television show, it is even more clear how greedy Palin is. After all, despite criticizing President Barack Obama's budget cuts as being "minuscule" on her Facebook page, Palin seems to have no problem raiding the state tax coffers to line her own pockets -- whether she needs to or not.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110220...jA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNzYXJhaHBhbGluMzk-