There has been talk in recent weeks that House of Cards may stop filming in uber-leftist Maryland and head to a more tax-friendly area of the country. That’s not sitting well with progressive liberal Maryland Democrats as they are now threatening to seize House of Cards’ property via eminent domain if they stop filming in Maryland.
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| Maryland Democrats threaten to take House of Cards property if they leave the state |
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The retaliatory step came after the Netflix original series said it might move to another state if Maryland didn’t provide enough tax credits. Lawmakers, in threatening to seize their property, held no illusions about how the move could have come straight out of the playbook of Frank Underwood — the lead character and merciless tactician who claws his way up the political ladder through whatever means necessary.
“I literally thought: What is an appropriate Frank Underwood response to a threat like this?” Delegate William Frick said, according to The Washington Post. “Eminent domain really struck me as the most dramatic response.”
The provision, proposed by Frick, was attached to a budget bill and approved by the House of Delegates on Thursday. It would require the state to use eminent domain powers to buy or condemn property owned by a film company that has claimed more than $10 million in state tax credits, if they stop filming. (Translation: “House of Cards,” and its California production team Media Rights Capital)
The Maryland Senate, though, would still have to approve the language. And the state’s senators already have gone on record in support of more film tax credits. After the Senate voted recently to up available tax credits to $18.5 million, star Kevin Spacey put his Underwood training to work and visited Annapolis to twist arms.