Bill Archer \nWASHINGTON - Did the chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee just use porn paranoia as an excuse to kill a tax break for low-budget filmmakers because its parent bill's supporters didn't send it to his committee for approval?
The tax break in question was a 20 percent break on the first $20,000 earned by production staff. But Texas Republican Bill Archer, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, yanked the provision from a minimum wage bill, claiming fears adult filmmakers could take advantage of the break which was aimed at stopping excess U.S. film work from crossing the Canadian border.
Variety says "sources" claim Archer was angry because the bill's supporters didn't submit it to Ways and Means, implying he used the porn paranoia to kill the provision.
The credit would have been a 20 percent tax break on the first $20,000 earned by production staff. Some sources, Variety says, think Archer was angry because the bill's supporters didn't submit it for formal approval to his committee, leading him to use a porn paranoia as a way to kill the provision.
A lobbyist for the Directors' Guild of America, Gary Casper, tells Variety the proposal's language makes it "absolutely certain that the adult film industry would not benefit." He says films must be submitted for a rating to qualify for the tax break and a minimum $1 million investment to benefit from it.
Still, he says the break could survive after all, with no final votes taken and Congress not expected to leave Washington for another week - giving Gasper's group and the Screen Actors' Guild time to keep fighting. And Variety says Motion Picture Association of America president Jack Valenti backs the tax breaks, even if he's not an active player in the current debate.
