The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
State legislators were loath this year to raise the tax on a pack of smokes but support increasing a tax on in-room hotel movies.
The General Assembly on Wednesday approved an extra 5 percent tax on pay-per-view movies and video games in hotels and motels to bolster a fund used to lure film crews to Virginia.
The House of Delegates passed the measure 69-27 after Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, tried but failed to divert the new revenue to transportation projects.
Others objected to Cosgrove's proposal, including a lawmaker who noted that many movies rented in hotel rooms are adult films.
"Might we be in fact relying upon the porno industry to build roads in Virginia?" said Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William County. "Because the films that go into these hotels in fact are clearly not, you know, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck."
Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, who sponsored the bill, SB1421, objected to the allusion to adult films.
"Absolutely not!" she wrote in a text when told of the comments on the House floor regarding adult films.
The bill already has passed the Senate.
In-room films already are charged a 5 percent state tax, with the revenue going to the state general fund.
The new tax, which increases the total charge to 10 percent, would go to the Governor's Motion Picture Opportunity Fund.
Bud Oakey, a lobbyist for the Virginia Production Alliance, said the new tax would generate about $1 million annually for the state motion picture fund.
Oakey said there's little data on what proportion of hotel movie sales involve adult films.
Rita McClenny of the Virginia Film Office said last year the fund received $200,000 in state money.
By comparison, Oakey said, Tennessee has a state motion picture fund of $20 million.
Supporters hope the extra money will help Virginia lure more lucrative productions like the Emmy-winning "John Adams" HBO miniseries.
Virginia has lost out on 10 film projects since 2006 because it can't compete with the incentives from other states, said Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond. Those productions would have spent an estimated $356 million, she said.
"Virginians' hands are tied by how much we can stimulate the economy, but there's one area where we can," McClellan said.
The Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association supported the increase in the in-room entertainment tax, making it easier for lawmakers to vote for it. However, supporters of the Virginia tobacco industry successfully blocked Kaine's effort to gain legislative approval for raising the cigarette tax by 30 cents a pack.
Pilot writer Julian Walker contributed to this report.
Dave Forster, (757) 477-6386, dave.forster@pilotonline.com
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cboath
It's a shame that the western counties and their representation cannot understand that when the Tidewater area and Northern Virginia suffer, all of the Commonwealth will suffer. Several Republicans in Richmond have offered bills that would raise money for the transportation fund and would not cost the taxpayer a dime. One bill (percentage of royalties from offshore drilling and Ports revenues)was just reported on in this paper. It was shot down by party-line voting. It ought to be clear that the bums in Richmond will continue down the same "do nothing" road until we vote them out and the best candidate in regardless of their party affiliation.
Tax increase
Look how much money Virginia has lost recently: "Virginia has lost out on 10 film projects since 2006 because it can't compete with the incentives from other states, said Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond. Those productions would have spent an estimated $356 million, she said". That's right, $365 Million! Imagine what that could do for transportation. And if the tax increase works, then we could afford a tax incentive in order to bring film production companies to Virginia, which in turn, spend $$ here in Virginia, and in turn, produce jobs, which in turn, stimulates the local economy. We can't otherwise compete with other states which are offering a ton of incentives, to the point where each state is practically out-bidding each other. One state offers $100 million, then another state offers $200 million, and so on and so on. It's reached the point where some states allocate too much and they end up loosing out in the long run. The State of Virginia only allocated a paultry $200,000...there is no way we could compete with Tenn. So I am hoping this small 5% increase will be enough.
So what about the House of delegates?
A lot of fun bashing Sen. Lucas and the Gov on this one. Of course the House voted for it as well. And which party controls the House? And who's the chairman of the committee it had to go through before it got to the house floor? And how many of those folks have brought any bills to a vote that will bring ANY revenue into the state without taxing the citizens?
So we are all clear, it's not the Hampton Roads delegation that's preventing legislation from addressing the transportation problem. It's all those delegates and senators from west of Richmond that are stopping it. There's no congestion there so the problem doesn't exist to them or their constitutents.
Loco Lucas
Comparing Virginia to Tennessee is ludicrous. Tennessee happens to have Memphis and Nashville. They might just have a little movie making going on in the guise of country and blues music videos. How much research on her part would it have taken to figure out why Tenn. might have that large of a budget for movie making?
All I see this new tax achieving is to deprive hotels/motels any revenue they may have been getting on these services. Chances are high there wasn’t a whole lot of movie renting going on in the first place so the amount to be collected is way over estimated.
Maybe it is more important to Tax’n Timmy and Loco Lucas to feel as if they accomplished something instead of actually addressing our problems.
New Dominion
New Dominion Productions uses the site out in Suffolk. They are a very successful production company that produces crime dramas such as Forensic Files and others. The idea of using the money to bring in more such business to the Commonwealth is a great one: more films and TV productions mean more money for Virginia. The revenue stream seems ridiculous and I doubt it will amount to much at all.
Think about this
Another state alots $20 million vs. Virginia's one million. Quite the advantage I would say. Second, Virginia could offer set locations that have the ocean, lakes, swamps, farmland, mountains, etc. How many other states offer those physical characteristics? Quite a few. Like many posters here, we would just like a little more effort being made to solve more important issues like transportation and road conditions. By the way, what happened to the production/film studio in Suffolk?
Monies should go to transportation fund
In stead of the tax going to the movie production fund, why can't the monies be put in the transportation fund? That way, all the visitors that are speeding down our highways will pay the "extra fines" that only Virginians are paying now.
Who's it going to hurt?
So now with all the ranting and raving done, who's this bill going to hurt? My guess is that everyone posting here is writing from their home in the state. I guess the tax isn't going to bother you on a daily basis. Visitors? Who cares? When we visit other states and pay 'tourism tax' on the hotel room, do we want to know where that money is going? I'm guessing not.
Want to fix the transportation woes? Get your butt elected and write the legislation.
Really Simple
This is a no brainer. It is obvious that their will soon be a Lucas Production Company and she is looking for a way to fund it out of someone elses pocket. This lady has got to go, not only is she taxing the citizens of Virginia but now she wants to gouge the visitors that we do get. Send her packing. I hope someone in Portsmouth is working on a recall election, she really does need to go!
For hotels with older
For hotels with older oncommand remotes, you can pull them apart. You will find a few hidden buttons on the board that don't go through the normal remote cases. One button will let you change the ID of the TV and bill your movies to another ID (aka, another room). The Channel programming mode will let you add/remove channels and go above the set limit. So if the TV gets channels 2 thru 25 normally, as you roll up to 26 and above you will see the private feeds being sent to other TVs. You can see people browsing menus, and you can see pay per view shows being played to other customers. Found this hole in 1993!