Even the presence of tariffs doesn’t seem likely to halt the root wastefulness of Louisiana’s Motion Picture Production tax credit that doesn’t change through its many iterations — especially when there are better uses for that money coming out of taxpayers’ pockets.

Republican Pres. Donald Trump has reiterated his threat to place tariffs on movies made in foreign countries. Increasingly, film production has moved out of the country, mainly because of lower labor costs. However, the mechanics of doing so don’t lend themselves well to setting up a regime that would provide the benefits of protectionism. And part of the problem also is the falling tide of movie-making and television series because of the rise of streaming services that empty theaters and keep people from surfing the dial as demand for that kind of product diminishes.

Workable tariffs could help Louisiana’s film and television production, which has been losing ground relative to other locations both foreign and domestic. Part has to do with changes last year to the tax credit, which had its cap lowered from $150 million annually to $125 million, even as other states are raising theirs. But foreign competition has been most challenging, and not just impacting negatively the state but other states as well.

This year, additional changes were made to the operating subsidization law. Rebuffing a cancelation attempt for the second straight year, instead lawmakers took out many specifics in order to give the Department of Economic Development that runs the program more flexibility in attracting business. However, they continued to leave in refundability of the tax credit, which carries a double-edged sword: not having it might encourage production companies to conduct greater revenue-generation within state borders, but might discourage them because if they don’t feel they can derive a critical mass of activity, they won’t rack up enough credits to make it worth their while. As it is, fewer than a dozen states offer even a partially refundable credit.

Yet indisputably the awarding of refundable credits costs taxpayers. Earlier this year the legally-required biannual report evaluating the performance of the credits came out. Once again, it showed a huge net loss for state taxpayers with the program, making back, through taxes from film-related activity, only 23 cents on the dollar for fiscal years 2023-24, or $225 million spent with just $51 million collected. Another way of looking at it: every job created from the credit cost taxpayers over $10,000 per year.

Maybe it’s time to stop swimming against the tide. With competition international in scope and most other countries having much lower labor and production costs, the bribery to get productions to come to Louisiana will become higher and higher to keep up. Instead, perhaps it should become lower and lower with the savings plowed into more important priorities. For example, what’s more important, making more movies or funding expansion of education savings accounts beyond its small numbers at present?

Simply, larger trends in entertainment and economics make Louisiana’s film tax credit less able to be effective than ever. If it’s been time to jettison it, now it’s past time to do so.