A tax subsidy that’s not funny

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There are a lot of ways to look at New York’s tax credit program intended to keep film and television producers working in the Empire State.

• The tax credits are projected to total $920 million this year.
• The subsidy works out to an average of $65,000 per job.
• The return on investment: about $1 in tax revenue for every $3 in subsidy.

Put another way, during the first three months of this year, the producers of Saturday Night Live received more tax breaks than anyone, some $21 million, or $83,000 per job. (To not be very funny, I might add.)

The analysis done by Reinvent Albany shows that most of the productions subsidized by state taxpayers are second-rate. Titles include FBI Most Wanted, Dead Ringers and Dr. Death. Not exactly Masterpiece theater. 

Reinvent Albany termed the subsidies “a colossal waste of taxpayer money” and increasingly difficult to defend given the state’s looming budget crunch exacerbated by cuts in federal aid.

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Speaking of subsidies, it appears the Niagara County IDA is poised to give the developer of market-rate apartments in Wheatfield tax breaks worth nearly $2.2 million. That, to create two permanent jobs.

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So, Byron Brown isn’t looking back at the train wreck he left behind, telling The Buffalo News “When I walked out of City Hall that last time, I moved on.” City residents are left to live with the mess he left behind.

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ICE agents tried to corner roofers working on a job last week in Rochester. The neighbors weren’t having it.

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On the international front:

• The Chinese are already eating our lunch on renewable energy and Trump’s push to promote fossil fuels is only going to make things worse.  We’re ceding the energy future to the Chinese.
• American technology firms are largely responsible for designing and building China’s surveillance state. And in case you haven’t noticed, they’re in the early stages of doing the same for Trump here in America.

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WUSW-AM, or The Patriot, as it has branded itself, is buying two transmitters to broaden its reach in Western New York. The station is trying to outdo WBEN with a lineup of right-wing hosts that include Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly. The station relaunched this summer and so far ranks dead last in Nielsen ratings. 

WUSW is owned by Radio One Buffalo, whose holdings also include WECK-AM, an oldies station. 

I’m still waiting for someone to launch what I call “intelligent talk radio,” which is certainly what we’re not getting from WUSW or WBEN.