Iowa Court Ruling Clears Way for International Production Companies to Get $6.5 Million in Iowa Taxpayer Money
An Iowa State Court ruled in favor of several production companies suing the state over Iowa’s decision to suspend the incentive program for complete lack of oversight resulting in millions of dollars of tax payer money wasted for out of state expenditures for items, such as luxury cars, that were not used in any production. The ruling clears the way for production of “Clean Out”, featuring Timothy Dalton, Elliot Gould and Harvey Keitel, to resume production and receive, upon completion, $6.5 million–roughly 50% of the estimated in-spate production expenses.
And who are these filmmakers? It’s almost too much….wait for it….Canadians! The companies, which includes an Iowa-based LLC are:
Iowa Eye Entertainment LLC (Iowa); Daedalus Film AG (Switzerland); C-Films France SAS (France);Clean Out Production Inc. (Canada);Clean Out Film Services Inc. (Canada).
I obtained copies of the complaint filed in Iowa State Court and yesterday’s order, which you can download below (they are also available in the report library).
My favorite line from the complaint was this gem:
The public interest in the State honoring its legal obligations and allowing the production to move forward in Iowa, so as to provide jobs, support the local economy, and restore confidence in Iowa’s tax credit programs, supports granting the injunction.
Breathtaking. I plan to comment more on this later. Highlights from yesterday’s Court Order, which were also quite amusing, included the following:
The failure to provide the Required Contract to Iowa Eye also causes harm to all tax credit programs. According to Dr. James M. Kurtenbach, an Associate Professor of Accounting at Iowa State University, the perception that the government‟s failure to honor its commitments could adversely affect opportunities for investment in Iowa projects that are dependent on government commitments.
Iowa Eye will suffer irreparable injury because of IDED‟s inaction and is already suffering significant injury every day that passes without any action. This is grossly disproportionate to the minimal benefits accruing to the public interest by the inaction because the Required Contract is merely a formality that IDED is obligated to prepare.
2009 Nov. Polk County Court Ruling for Iowa Eye Entertainment
2009 Iowa Eye Entertainment et al. Complaint vs. Iowa
