The National Trust Community Investment Community is welcoming all Historic Tax Credit (HTC) advocates to come DC and join them on Capitol Hill on June 8th. This will be the day before many in the HTC industry are in town for the IPED Historic Tax Credit Conference. Staff will set up your meetings and provide educational materials including maps and a list of all projects in your state and Congressional District.  Please reply or email Michael Phillips (mphillips@ntcic.com) if you will be available to come to DC and participate in the Capitol Hill meetings on June 8th.

If you cannot make it to DC, Lobby from Home! Ask Your Members of Congress to Co-Sponsor the Historic Tax Credit Improvement Act (HTCIA). Due to upcoming elections, a tax reform bill is not likely until after the 2016 elections. However, tax staffers, in both the House and the Senate, have indicated that committee staff will be working on a bill in 2016 to be ready to move forward with a new President in 2017.

In anticipation of tax reform, the HTC Advocacy Campaign helped develop legislation that would update the program and improve access to historic tax credits for smaller and more rural communities.  This Historic Tax Credit Improvement Act (HTCIA) provides several reform options and serves as an indicator of member support for the HTC program (see attached one-pager).  The House version of the bill (H.R. 3846) is enjoying strong bi-partisan support on the Ways and Means Committee and presently has 37 members of congress supporting the bill, directly demonstrating support for the Historic Tax Credit. Advocates should also be focused on gathering co-sponsors for the Senate version of the bill, sponsors by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) that was introduced in March.

Co-sponsors and other details of the House and Senate bills can be found at the links below:

How to Take Action

Locate the name of your House Representative.

Locate the names of your Senators

  1. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121 and asked to be connected to your Senators’ or House Member’s DC office.
  2.  When connected to office, ask which staffer handles tax reform issues and ask to be connected with that person.
  3. Share why you value the Historic Tax Credit and why the Historic Tax Credit Improvement Act would be beneficial. If no person is available, leave a brief message and ask for a return call.
  4. Ask them to co-sponsor the Historic Tax Credit Improvement Act bill number H.R. 3846 in the House and S. 2655 in the Senate.
  5. Ask for an email address to follow-up so you can share the HTCIA one-pager (see link below) on the legislation. http://historiccredit.com/advocacy-items/htcia-one-pager/
  6. Report action taken to Mike Phillips at mphillips@ntcic.com or 202-440-0899.