As readers of this space know, we’ve covered Gov. Johnson’s campaign for president relatively closely here and here for starters. So, it was with great interest that I read this article about a dispute between “Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, aka: the next Ron Paul” and our own former Gov. The issue is none other than New Mexico’s film subsidy program which Johnson inaugurated and Richardson expanded.
I have to agree with Rep. Amash on this one. The worst thing about Johnson’s statements on the film subsidy program he started is his fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between “tax breaks” and outright “government subsidies.” As I’ve said before in this space, there is a big economic and moral difference between government deciding not to collect taxes on a particular, favored activity (often morally acceptable, sometimes economically logical) and taxing one group of taxpayers to then turn around and hand money to another group (neither morally acceptable, nor economically logical).
The latter is what New Mexico’s film subsidy program does and Gary should know better.