Virginia is taking a hard look at tax credits and other incentives for economic development, from a film industry that a new study says doesn't generate much benefit for the state's investment to an impending look at tax exemptions for data centers.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission received the results on Monday of a staff study of financial incentives for the film industry that have doubled in the past five years while producing "mixed results" in jobs and economic investment in Virginia.
The commission also blessed a new study into tax exemptions for data centers, which have become the top recipient of state economic development incentives - $61.5 million in the last year alone and $222 million in the past seven years. Facebook will receive about $19 million in tax exemptions for the data center it plans to build in eastern Henrico County.
