Legendary rapper Ice T  testified before the New York City Council  Dec.1st  to support a tax credit on TV and movie production
expenses.

Along with Director Spike Lee and Tribeca Film Festival Founder Jane Rosenthal, Ice T will lobby a bill proposed by New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and the City Council at a council hearing.

The bill advocates a five percent tax credit on what are known as "below-the-line" TV and movie production expenses, consisting of
payments to technical workers, stagehands and extras.

"Were losing a lot of business to Canada and to California," Councilman David Weprin (D-Queens Village), chairman of the councils
Finance Committee, told New York Newsday. "And this will help us be more competitive."

Though film production in New York City plummeted after the 2001 terrorist attacks - from 23,000 film days in 1998 to around 19,000 in
2003-it has recently recovered, according to the Mayor Bloomberg's film office.

The bill must first be approved by Albany officials, though Weprin said he hopes the Legislature will pass the measure in January. Afterwards, the bill could conceivably become a law.