Swan and Wallingford share views on state film tax credits

Swan and Wallingford discuss legislative hesitancy on extending Missouri tax credits for filmmaking

Former Missouri Rep. Kathy Swan of Cape Girardeau, winner of a new film award Oct. 14 from the Missouri Division of Tourism, said Thursday the Show Me State is losing out on movie-making revenue because Missouri no longer offers filmmaker tax credits.

Swan won MDT's inaugural Film Industry Champion Award during a recent Governor's Conference on Tourism in Branson.

The honor to Swan, who represented District 147 in the General Assembly until January, was emblematic of her efforts to restore a tax-credit incentive by educating fellow legislators about the benefits of film production in Missouri.

The most recent effort to pass a film tax credit equal to 25% of qualifying in-state expenses, Senate Bill 367, never made it out of committee earlier this year.

Former state representative Kathy Swan of Cape Girardeau received the Missouri Division of Tourism's inaugural Film industry Champion Award (pictured here) during a conference Oct. 14 in Branson, Missouri. Swan, who left the General Assembly in January, has long touted the benefits to the state of tax credits for the film industry.Courtesy Facebook

"We did have a film tax credit (in Missouri) and the producers of 'Gone Girl,' the movie filmed in Cape Girardeau, were able to utilize it but the credit ended not long after the film wrapped," said Swan, who noted the tax break on film companies expired Nov. 28, 2013.

Principal photography for "Gone Girl" began in Cape Girardeau on Sept. 15, 2013 and lasted approximately five weeks.

Swan said the production's financial benefit to the City of Cape Girardeau was in the neighborhood of $7 million.

"A lot of the money was tied up in hotel room nights for cast and crew, various services provided by Missouri businesses, the cost of meals plus furniture and equipment purchases," said Swan, who served eight years in the Missouri House from 2013 to 2021.

"There are some in the legislature who are opposed to tax credits and there is a train of thought that the state should benefit economically from tax credits not just a particular community -- but Cape Girardeau is in Missouri and anything that benefits any of our communities helps the state as a whole."

The current Netflix show "Ozark" is set in Missouri but is filmed in Georgia.

The Peach State, unlike Missouri, offers filmmakers tax credits and Georgia is among 30 states extending such treatment to motion picture companies.

Pushback

In 2019, the Missouri Department of Economic Development reported a cost-benefit analysis estimating the cost of the film credits would exceed new revenue for the state over a five-year period.

Swan's successor in the Missouri House, veteran legislator Wayne Wallingford, told the Southeast Missourian he has concerns about extending such a credit.

"I'm a student of economics and finance and what I look for is bottom-line return on investment. We only have so much money -- and we have more needs than we have money," said Wallingford.

"(A film tax credit) is a one-time influx to a local community and it's good for restaurants and hotels but it's only for a limited brief time," he added.

"I would be excited if Warner Bros. called and said it was putting a studio in Cape Girardeau, Cape County or Southeast Missouri. I might be very interested in a tax credit then because it would be a permanent thing with long-term jobs."

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports at least a dozen states have gotten rid of film tax credits since 2009.

Swan said more than 30 states offer a film tax credit today and said she remains undeterred in her view of what such a tax break would mean for Missouri.

"Every year Missouri waits is another year it can't benefit from the explosion of spending in the streaming era," Swan told a Missouri House committee in 2019.