Turns out every tax-paying New Yorker can take some credit (or blame) for Saturday Night Live. As The New York Times reports today, the legendary sketch show is among ten shows that have benefited most from state-funded production incentives in recent years.
Citing data from Empire State Development, the Times says New York State has given SNL a total of 111 million dollars in N.Y. film tax credits since 2017, which averages out to $14.50 per household, or $1.81 a year.
SNL isn’t the only show to benefit from the state’s production incentives program, nor is it the largest beneficiary. Five other shows received more over the same period of time: The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Billions, Bull, and Madam Secretary.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon also benefits, with 81 million in tax credits since 2017, amounting to about $1.33 in tax dollars annually for every NY tax-payer.
New York has one of the country’s largest tax credit programs, amounting to about 700 million dollars in 2022—and Governor Kathy Hochul has said she’d like to increase that number. (Neighboring state New Jersey hands out even more, at about $800 million dollars a year.)
Per the Times, there’s some debate over whether or not the incentives are a net gain for the state’s enconomy.
While the costs are known, the benefits in job growth and taxes paid into the state are harder to quantify, with competing studies drawing opposite conclusions (one, commissioned by the organization that administers New York’s film fund, concluded that the state saw $1.70 in added tax revenues for every dollar spent, while another study determined the state recouped only $0.30 for every dollar spent).
