I have a three minute commute to work.  The nice thing about that is I only have to listen to three minutes of talk radio in the morning (why I even subject myself to that much, I don’t know).  Be that as it may . . .

This morning I caught a short conversation from someone filling in for Walt Sorg talking to the head of the Michigan Film Initiative.  She was reporting a 100% increase in the number of films being produced here in Michigan.  Some 35 works were shot right here, in PURE Michigan, last year in 2008, and this year we are on pace to increase that again!

This, she went on to explain, is good for area business and our general economy.  “If people only knew” she went on to say, “just how many area businesses benefit when just one film is filmed here – It’s hard to add it all up actually.”

Clint Eastwood (filmed Gran Torino here) said that he believes Michigan will be the next Film Capital of the World!  Go ahead Clint, Make our Day!!  We love the business.

The host then asked a good question of his guest.  Why, do you suppose, are we getting all of this new attention from film makers?

You will be shocked (my tongue is planted firmly in my cheek now) at her answer.  Ready?  It’s monumental!  Here it comes… She said:

“We gave them a 42% tax credit.”

Wow, who would have thought!

You let an entrepreneur keep more of the earnings from projects and they will decide to do business here.  THEN, when they get here, they spend some of their earning HERE, in Michigan.  They may even begin to enjoy Michigan.  Maybe they will buy a PURE Michigan home and put some of their money into a PURE Michigan bank and eat PURE Michigan grown food in our restaurants.

If anyone reading this knows the Governor, send her a memo for me.

You better get with the program and understand that raising taxes (much less, creating a tax on a tax) is NOT a good way to promote PURE Michigan.

We spend MILLIONS on PURE Michigan adds around the country.  Yet we have an Iron Curton of taxes at the boarder keeping out anyone that isn’t on the “we want to give you a temporary tax credit” list.

Temporary tax credits create temporary results.  Permanent tax reductions create lasting results.

“Economics is more than a way to see patterns or to unravel puzzling anomalies.  Its fundamental concern is with the material standard of living of society as a whole and how that is affected by particular decisions made by individuals and institutions. One of the ways of doing this is to look at the economic policies and economic systems in terms of the incentives they create, rather than simply the goals they pursue. This means that consequences matter more than intentions – and not just immediate consequences, but also the longer run repercussions of decisions, policies, and institutions.”  (emphasis mine)

~Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics – page 1

Enough said.  At some point, enough good businesses will pack up their home offices (where all the employees are) and move to Texas where the weather is always warm and the tax forms are short (and, incidentally, where home values have risen through this entire crisis).