CHAPA CALL TO ACTION! Tell Congress to Protect Affordable Housing in Tax Reform
Contact Your Legislators Today & Sign Onto CHAPA’s Letter to Congress!
On Thursday November 2nd, House Republicans released their tax reform proposal, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, to make sweeping changes to the U.S. tax code. The proposal delivers substantial tax cuts, including a significant reduction in the top corporate income tax rate. To offset the cost of the cuts, many current tax incentives are eliminated or substantially changed in the legislation.
The proposed tax reforms will be devastating for affordable housing in Massachusetts. Our robust affordable housing production and preservation programs in Massachusetts are successful because of strong federal partnerships. Unfortunately, the tax reform legislation will either eliminate or seriously impact the programs Massachusetts needs to create affordable housing. The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), private activity bonds, the Historic Tax Credit, and New Markets Tax Credit, together with rental assistance, provide the resources necessary to produce and preserve homes for people with low- and extremely low-incomes. This includes seniors, families, people who have experienced homelessness, and persons with disabilities.
While the bill retains LIHTC, the proposal eliminates the tax exemption for private activity bonds. These bonds help finance nearly half of all LIHTC-financed affordable homes. Additionally, there are no changes or enhancements to LIHTC that would help offset the decreased value of LIHTC caused by lowering the top corporate tax rate to 20 percent. The proposal also eliminates the Historic Tax Credit and the New Markets Tax Credit, both of which can be used to produce or preserve affordable housing.
All this will seriously reduce our ability to provide affordable housing options for people with low-incomes and take away vital tools for revitalizing neighborhoods across the Commonwealth.
Call your Representative and Senators now and urge them to protect affordable housing by opposing the proposed elimination of tax-exempt private activity bonds, the Historic Tax Credit, and the New Markets Tax Credit in the tax reform legislation. You can find contact information for your Members of Congress by clicking here.
Please ask your Members of Congress to:
- Preserve the tax exemption of Private Activity Bonds to support the production and preservation of affordable housing
- Make changes to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to strengthen the program and offset the impact of a lower corporate rate on the value of the tax credit
- Restore the Historic Tax Credit and the New Markets Tax Credit
For updates and more information on the tax reform proposal and its impact on affordable housing, please visit the National Low Income Housing Coalition or the Housing Advisory Group.
Sign onto CHAPA’s Letter to Congress
CHAPA will be sending a letter to the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation about the impact the tax reform proposal will have on affordable housing in the Commonwealth. We are asking for organizations to sign onto the letter to show your support for affordable housing.
CLICK HERE to add your organization to the letter.
Also, In order to help demonstrate what tax reform will do to affordable housing in Massachusetts, please share any stories of how you have used resources, including LIHTC, the Historic Tax Credit, or the New Market Tax Credit. These can include examples, descriptions, or photos of developments these resources helped create. We will use these to send to legislators to help defend these critical affordable housing resources!
If you have any questions, please contact Eric Shupin, Director of Public Policy, at eshupin@chapa.org or (617) 742-0820.