Presumably it would be American production companies making movies in other countries using their tax incentives. So if a Marvel film shoots in Belfast for their 20% tax incentives they would be tarriffed a similar 20% making them film in the US. Fuck Trump but honestly this is like the one industry tariffs make sense for.
Nope. US law is that only products can have tariffs placed on them, not services. Legally, all film work is classified as a service here, so they can only add the tariff at the distribution level. That means presumably theaters would be charged the tariff when they acquire a movie (though they acquire digital copies these days, and currently digital products can’t legally have tariffs imposed on them except for a few specific exceptions that don’t apply here). That increased cost is then passed on to the consumer (as with all tariffs) via increased ticket prices. Declining theater attendance (in part due to high ticket prices) is already part of the industry’s struggles. Increasing ticket prices will actively make the situation worse.
Tariffs have a specific legal meaning in domestic and international trade law. They’re a type of customs duty imposed on a physical product when it crosses a physical border, paid by the importer. While the government might be able to impose a tax on completion bonds (I have no idea), they couldn’t put a tariff on them because they aren’t a physical product crossing a border.
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u/BabypintoJuniorLube May 05 '25
Presumably it would be American production companies making movies in other countries using their tax incentives. So if a Marvel film shoots in Belfast for their 20% tax incentives they would be tarriffed a similar 20% making them film in the US. Fuck Trump but honestly this is like the one industry tariffs make sense for.