Ask your legislators to support the
Historic Tax Credit enhancement provisions included in the infrastructure legislation.
Your outreach will directly determine
how much support HTC provisions will receive in ongoing negotiations.
As you're seeing in the national news, Congress is poised to move forward on infrastructure legislation, including a vehicle that could carry HTC provisions, as early as next week.
For months, Greater Portland Landmarks has joined preservation supporters across the country to advocate for improvements to the federal Historic Tax Credit program. The $3.5 trillion bill recently passed by the House Ways & Means Committee is expected to be significantly reduced in size and scope. It's critically important that your member of Congress hear from you that the HTC provisions included in the Ways & Means reconciliation package remain in the next version of the package.
The following HTC provisions are at risk:
Temporarily Increasing the HTCs From 20% to 30% for all projects. (Sec. 135301)
Permanent increase in the rehabilitation credit for small projects. (Sec. 135302)
Modification of substantial rehabilitation definition. (Sec. 135303)
Elimination of basis adjustment. (Sec. 135304)
Modifications of tax-exempt use leasing rules. (Sec. 135305)
Enabling HTCs to be used for public school buildings. (Sec. 135306)
How can you help?
We encourage you to reach out and express to our legislators the impact Historic Tax Credits have on economic development and affordable housing creation in Maine communities today! Will you join us?
Call Your Members of Congress (during office hours)! To call the Capitol Switchboard to connect with your House Member and Senators dial (202)-224-3121, then:
Introduce yourself as a constituent!
Then say…
"The Historic Tax Credit is the single most important tool for historic preservation. Unfortunately, it has not been meaningfully improved since the 1980s. Please support and protect the Historic Tax Credit provisions in the House Reconciliation Infrastructure Bill. The provisions included in the House version of the bill would benefit Maine by rehabilitating downtowns and helping to fund affordable housing projects. Plus reusing our existing buildings helps to mitigate climate change. The greenest building is the one already built, so please help us preserve more and preserve better!"
or email them now through their websites:
These projects and more have benefited from the Federal Historic Tax Credit program.