The benefit of giving away huge subsidies to the film industry has long been questioned by fiscal watchdogs and elected officials. The NYS Department of Taxation and Finance last year commissioned a study to investigate all of New York’s economic development tax credits. It found that New York gets back 31 cents for every dollar it provides in tax credits to the film industry. The incentive program has cost the state $5 billion in lost revenue over ten years and is the largest of all of New York’s tax incentives. The study also concluded that most of the productions that take place in NY would still happen here whether or not the program continues.