While Palin’s show didn’t make a dent in America’s consciousness, the state of Alaska is still paying for it. The California company that produced the show applied for every tax credit they could think of.
While very few people remember, or even watched, Bristol Palin’s show last summer, it cost the taxpayers of Alaska a pretty penny.
“The California company that made Bristol Palin‘s TV show about raising her child has collected a $354,348 subsidy from the state,” according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
The state offers tax incentive programs for filmmakers who film in their state. However, even though the film company is from California, at least some of that money likely stayed in the state of Alaska.
“Unlike nearly all of the other shows and films subsidized so far under the movie incentive program, the salaries paid to Alaska residents on the Palin show account for a majority of the total ‘Alaska expenses’ for the TV show,” said the newspaper.
But that doesn’t mean it was a lot. According to the form obtained by the News-Miner, the production company only hired laborers from in-state and brought in all crew from out of state.
But Palin and five others listed as “talent” on the show made up to half a million dollars in wages over the 14 episodes of the show. And even though the total Alaska wages ended up being $508,000 (which is not much considering five people made almost $500,000 of that), it seems the company squeezed all they could out of that tax subsidy.
“The production qualified for a seasonal subsidy of $4,964 because $248,206 was spent between Oct. 1 and March 30 in Alaska,” said the News-Miner. “The subsidy also included a ‘rural tax credit’ of 79 cents, according to the form, because $39 was spent in a ‘rural community.'”
The show, Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp, ran last summer for 14 episodes on Lifetime, but ratings were much lower than expected. Palin just finished her time on the all-star season of Dancing with the Stars.
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