http://www.mass.gov/Ador/docs/dor/business/outstate/March_2008_Film%20_Incentives.pdf
[excerpt]
Comparison with Other State Tax Incentives
As we have pointed out in previous studies, it is important to place film tax incentives in the context of tax incentives generally. Most studies of tax incentives show that increases in economic activity induced by the incentives produce tax revenue that is lower than the amount of the tax expenditures themselves.
For example, recent studies of the Massachusetts investment and research tax credits conducted for the Associated Industries of Massachusetts by Ernst & Young (which also used the REMI model) estimated that the dynamic impact of those tax incentives lead to increased tax and non-tax revenue equal to 54% and 11%, respectively, of the amount of tax expenditures.15 (These estimates of offsetting tax revenue may be too high, as it is not clear that a balanced budget requirement was imposed or whether nonbudgetary revenues were counted in the analyses.) Whether a tax incentive program is desirable is not solely a function of how much revenue it generates, but also whether the economic activity that it causes is judged to be favorable for the Commonwealth. The Department does not take any position on the desirability of particular tax incentive programs.