WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Congressman Xavier Becerra (CA-31), the only member of Congress from Southern California serving on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, applauded a coalition of labor, film and business organizations and municipalities for initiating an effort to level the playing field for American film workers. The Film and Television Action Committee (FTAC) today filed a Section 301 Petition with the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Susan Schwab, urging the Administration to seek an end to Canada’s use of unfair subsidies for foreign film production.
“The American film industry should be free to work anywhere in the world based on creative, artistic and financial considerations – but they should not be enticed abroad with unfair tax subsidies. Our film workers deserve a chance to compete fairly,” said Rep. Becerra. “My hope is we can work with Canada to bring their policies in to compliance with their trade commitments.”
When Canada created its foreign production film subsidies in 1997, U.S. investment in film and television production in Canada nearly tripled. Canada’s subsidies attract more than a billion dollars of film and television production dollars from the U.S. each year. From 1998-2005, the total cost of these Canadian subsidies to the U.S. economy has been estimated at more than $9 billion, and more than 138,000 potential new jobs have been lost in both direct and indirect employment in film and television production.
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