P.M. BRIEFING : Panel Votes ‘Vice’ Star Tax Break
A state Senate panel voted to give actor Don Johnson, star of TV’s “Miami Vice,” a retroactive income tax break worth about $50,000 because he complained that Vermont was a taxing place to make movies.
The income tax exemption, approved by the Finance Committee late Tuesday, would apply to all Hollywood production companies and their employees who stay in the state for less than 120 days. The measure, which is retroactive to 1986, must still receive full legislative approval and be signed by Gov. Madeleine M. Kunin, whose administration sponsored it.
Johnson reportedly protested a tax bill for income he earned during filming of “Sweetheart’s Dance” in Hyde Park, Vt., in 1987. Other officials confirmed that a movie star protested his tax bill and threatened to spread the word in Hollywood about Vermont’s policy unless it was changed. Florida is Johnson’s state of residence.
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