For the record, directorik, if I were in your shoes, I'm absolutely certain that I would want the same from my congress as you do. A person's livelihood and expertise certainly should shape their perspective in a big way.
I get your point, in regards to the fact that a tax credit is not actually money being given away (I didn't intend it to be taken literally). Yeah, collecting 8% tax is better than collecting 0%. And that's not even to mention the income tax collected by locals who are hired by the production, in addition to money spent at local businesses, both by the film production and by the cast/crew who are spending time in the area, shopping at local businesses, eating at local restaurants, etc. There's absolutely no question that a film production financially benefits the region in which it is produced.
However, the flip side of the coin is the question of how many tax credits are given to productions that would've produced a film in that state, anyway. Both on the low-budget and high-budget level of filmmaking, there are TONS of films that are going to be shot where they're going to be shot, regardless of taxes.
So now you gotta ask -- how much money was gained by attracting productions that might've shot elsewhere, vs. how much money was lost by giving tax credits to productions that were going to shoot in your state anyway?
I'm good at making drinks. I'm working on getting good at making movies. I don't know the answers to these questions. I will say, though, that I have many friends who were hired to work on the Lincoln production, so I've seen the benefits first-hand and I like them.