As anticipated, Republican leadership released a tax reform framework intended to guide House and Senate tax writing committees in their drafting of tax reform legislation.

The framework does not explicitly preserve the historic tax credit and envisions that most business tax credits will be repealed in order to achieve a 20% corporate tax rate. Only the Affordable Housing Tax Credit and the Research and Development Tax Credit were included in the release, and all other credits will have to fight their way into tax reform bills. Without a federal historic tax credit, the historic fabric of our urban centers, Main Street commercial districts, and small towns nationwide, face a much greater risk of economic obsolescence and not being revitalized. Urge your Congressional delegation to vocalize support to Congressional Leadership, House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees with the message that the HTC is important to the economic redevelopment efforts in your state and district. The need for tax reform is clear, but it must not come at the expense of this important economic redevelopment incentive, that more than pays for itself, and has a proven track record of creating jobs, saving historic buildings, and revitalizing neighborhoods.

Requested Action:

Contact House and Senate Members of Congress ASAP- Call (during office hours) the offices of your Members of Congress. Ask to speak to tax staff, your staff contacts in offices or ask for email addresses of tax staff.

A suggested outline of your message:

  1. Introduce yourself
  2. Say “I have been hearing about tax reform and I wanted to check in to see how the HTC is fairing. I am extremely concerned that it was not specifically mentioned in the tax reform framework.”
  3. Explain why you value Historic Tax Credits, and that the redevelopment of historic buildings will not get done without the HTC.
  4. Let them know some previous and potential future HTC projects in your state/district (Link to State HTC Map and Project List below)
  5. Touch on why these buildings are so challenging
  6. Ask…. “As tax reform moves forward, will Rep./Sen. XXX vocalize support and work to protect the historic tax credit with Congressional Leadership and the tax writing committees?”

Please share responses from congressional offices with Michael Phillips at mphillips@ntcic.com .

Advocacy Resources

HTC Campaign Staff