Crasher Jason Wohlfahrt, a film major at UT, Austin, wrote a piece entitled “Film Incentives: A Sad Case on How Government Hurts Art” over at his group blog Libertarian Longhorns. After touching on the greater ability for Joe Sixpack to create film due to the innovations in the the technology sector (yay competition!), Jason notes:

If you’re not involved in politics or the film industry, there’s a good chance you that haven’t heard about this entity [a film incentive program]. Basically, an incentives program is set up by the government to help filmmakers bear the cost of production. The government supposedly benefits via increased in-state business. Film incentive programs have popped up all over the United States (at least twenty states have them on the books) and the world, and at this point, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Texas has an incentive program of its own, which pays qualifying productions 5% of the production costs (or 6.25%, if an “underused” area of Texas is utilized as a location). In other words, if a production costing $100,000 qualifies, it could receive as much as $6,250 from the state of Texas.

After flushing out the perverse incentives wroght by such intervention Jason ends succienctly: “Only government could create such a screwy situation.” Read the entire post here.

Interested in this issue? Then check out the Crashing the Art World group stated by Beerstore Cowboy on Bureacurash Social. And if you live in/around Austin connect with other lovers of liberty by joining the Texas Crashers! group created by Schuyler “Rocky” Reidel or by taking the initiative and starting an Austin group.