Film industry worries end of HST will cost jobs

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Some may be happy the Harmonized Sales Tax will soon be gone, but one local industry that says it will cost them jobs.

Peter Leitch with North Shore Studios says losing the HST will cost them at least three per cent of their annual budget — that’s about $30,000 for every episode of a TV show shot here.

“This could be the straw that really breaks the camel’s back because we lose series as a result of this, that’s a lot of employment over a long period of time. Once they go, it’s difficult to get them back.”

He’s concerned because now is “pilot season,” when studios decide which series are being picked up or coming back.

Leitch is calling for better tax incentives and call the change a major step backwards. “The seven per cent of the 12 per cent now, is a cost to us, versus we got it back before, so now it’s an expense.”

He is calling on the government to step up with better incentives.

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