Georgia wants more than just a peach at the end of movie credits to keep dishing out lucrative tax breaks

Thanks in large part to tax breaks, productions including “The Hunger Games,” the Marvel movies, the Fast & Furious installment “Furious 7” and many others shot in Georgia have made the Peach State a hub for movies and television shows that might otherwise have been shot in Hollywood in an earlier era. The program has supported thousands of Georgia jobs and the creation of several thriving studios.

In a news conference Wednesday, legislative leaders said they want companies to meet four of nine goals to receive the top 30% credit on Georgia income taxes. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Shaw Blackmon said that would include things such as shooting in rural Georgia, hiring more Georgia workers and supporting production studios in the state.

“We’re certainly not limiting the credit at all,” Blackmon, a Bonaire Republican, told reporters after the news conference. “I think what we’re trying to do is provide more value and a better return on investment for the taxpayers and sustain the credits at the same time, so that industry has an opportunity to continue to thrive.”

That’s the biggest announcement to come out a monthslong review of all the tax breaks that Georgia offers to various industries. Lawmakers also said Wednesday that they want to at least temporarily suspend a sales tax exemption on equipment offered to data centers. So many data centers are opening or expanding in the state that it’s causing a notable drain on the power grid, leading Georgia Power Co. to say it quickly needs to build or contract for new electrical generation capacity.

The announcements are a relatively modest outcome of the review, which Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones touts as a way to shore up tax revenue so that Georgia could further cut its income tax…