And the winner is . . . “Boardwalk Empire.”
No, the HBO production didn’t win an Emmy for best TV series. But the show cleaned up in Gov. Cuomo’s tax-giveaway sweepstakes, new figures reveal: It raked in $19 million in taxpayer dollars this year, more than any other production.
The runner-up: “The Knick,” another HBO property, which vacuumed up $16 million from New York taxpayers’ pockets.
Why is Albany handing so much of your money to companies like HBO? Because Gov. Cuomo says it’s needed to lure film and TV companies here, apparently because of New York’s hostility to business.
His handouts to studios, which can be reimbursed for up to 30 percent of their production costs, are by far the costliest of any state. Indeed, Albany sets aside $420 million a year to bribe companies to film here.
Through September, it’s given away $108 million to 70 shows, movies and post-production units. Over the past nine years, it’s handed out a mind-boggling $1.5 billion.
Cuomo claims the program generates business and jobs. But that’s absurd: After all, plenty of film companies would choose New York without a bribe — even with its high taxes and anti-business culture.
It was clear from the start, for instance, that Jimmy Fallon and producer Lorne Michaels planned to bring The Tonight Show back to New York. Yet NBC still got more than $20 million to do that.
Cuomo’s right if he thinks New York’s business environment stinks: The Tax Foundation ranked the state second-worst for business, after New Jersey, four years straight.
But the remedy’s not picking firms you like and find glamorous (and that give to your political war chest) and then handing them taxpayers’ cash. It’s improving the business climate — for everyone.
If Cuomo could do that, he himself would deserve an award.