North Carolina Film Tax Incentives: The Kochs Strike Back

July 18, 2014

The outfit that brought you NC Film Tax Incentives: Thom Tillis’ Epic Flip-Flop last month is already out with a sequel and it’s even more packed with hypocrisy than the original. Americans for Prosperity, political arm of the billionaire Koch brothers, released a statement yesterday urging North Carolina lawmakers to oppose the extension of tax credits for the successful film and television industry in the state, building on a June ad campaign railing against the program.

AFP’s vocal opposition to the incentives managed to woo House Speaker Thom Tillis, so it’s hardly surprising that the group continues to clamor over the program. What is noteworthy about the latest statement is AFP’s insistence that the tax program be discontinued in favor of “improving educational options in the state.” AFP suggests that the funding for tax incentives instead be applied to a taxpayer-funded program that pays for North Carolina students to attend private or parochial schools. This group coming out in favor of education spending might seem paradoxical, given the tremendous resources (over $8 million so far this year) AFP has put behind Speaker Thom Tillis’ Senate candidacy after he stripped over $500 million in state education funding over two years. But this is no plot twist — just another Koch-funded attempt to undermine public education.

The statement concludes that “School choice reform is the civil rights struggle of our day.” Interesting choice of words from a group that has hobnobbed with a noted racist.

Paid for by American Bridge 21st Century Foundation