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This bill aims to offer live theatre investors (for shows like those on Broadway) the same tax breaks offered to the film and television industry.

Under the current tax code, qualified film and TV production companies can expense costs of up to $15 million, as long as 75 percent of the labor they are paying for is done in the U.S. As such, studios can immediately recoup their investments on the movies and TV shows they're working on, before taxes can be determined based on the profits they earn. Broadway shows, and other live theatre productions are left out of these tax breaks.

Through amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, this bill extends tax incentives to live theatrical venues through 2016. These tax breaks would be offered to venues with an audience capacity of 3,000 people or less, but also extends to live touring companies.

","official_title":"A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend tax incentives to certain live theatrical performances, and for other purposes.","short_title":"STAGE Act","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Support Theaters in America Growth and Expansion Act or the STAGE Act\n\nAmends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the expensing of the costs of qualified film and television productions, to: (1) extend through 2016 provisions allowing such expensing, (2) allow such expensing for the costs of certain live theatrical productions, and (3) provide for the tax treatment of dispositions of an interest in a live theatrical production as a passive activity.","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable. ","impact":" Stage actors and workers, live theatrical venues and companies, the performing arts, Internal Revenue Service, federal taxation agencies.","argument_for":"Live theatre is foundational to U.S. performing arts history. Supporting these productions helps stage actors, theatre workers, artists, and American cultural intelligence. ","argument_against":"There are many U.S. businesses that deserve tax breaks more than live theatrical venues. 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If TV gets a tax break, surely live arts do. In an ideal world things that are more artsy would get more and things that are simply commercial would get less, but there is no satisfactory way to define that.","argument_against":null,"show_argument_for":true,"show_argument_against":false,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":0,"upvotes_against_count":null,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/positions/cc400811-f1f5-4c7c-8d6e-f0b6777b1bde"},"body":"Entertainment is one of the largest exports of the US, likewise part of our local tourism. If TV gets a tax break, surely live arts do. In an ideal world things that are more artsy would get more and things that are simply commercial would get less, but there is no satisfactory way to define that.","stance":"yea","created_at":"2015-05-23T22:35:11.264Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/positions/cc400811-f1f5-4c7c-8d6e-f0b6777b1bde.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"s364-114","user_id":"Amp786ZE","endorser_ids":[]}}

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Should Live Theatre Productions Get The Same Tax Breaks As The Film Industry?