News Public PolicyHistoric Tax Credit

House Passes “Build Back Better” Without HTC Provisions, Contact Your Senators!

Written By: NTCIC

Last week, the House passed a $1.75 trillion version of the “Build Back Better” (BBB) reconciliation bill on a vote of 220 to 213. The bill did not include Historic Tax Credit (HTC) enhancements. The Senate is poised to take up its version of the BBB bill over the next few weeks and may have substantial changes compared to the House version. Please contact your Senators now and tell them how much HTC improvements mean to you and to include HTC provisions in the final “Build Back Better” reconciliation bill.

Take Action

Click here to take action through the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s advocacy tool. Ask your Senators to include HTC Provisions in the Senate version of the “Build Back Better” bill.

Thank you for your advocacy! So that we can monitor our impact, please share your efforts by emailing: Mike Phillips, Shaw Sprague, and Patrick Robertson.

Background

In September, the following HTC provisions were included in the bill passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee reconciliation bill.

To read the full text of the section-by-section breakdown of the HTC provisions passed by the Ways and Means Committee in September (but  these provisions were not included in the White House framework and House passed BBB bill), click here (HTC on Pages 3 and 4)

Rehabilitation Tax Credit

  • Sec. 135301. Temporarily increasing the HTC From 20% to 30% for all projects.
  • Sec. 135302. Permanent increase in the rehabilitation credit for small projects.
  • Sec. 135303. Modification of substantial rehabilitation definition.
  • Sec. 135304. Elimination of basis adjustment.
  • Sec. 135305. Modifications of tax-exempt use leasing rules.
  • Sec. 135306. Enabling HTC to be used for public school buildings.

In October, the White House released the “Build Back Better” framework, and the House wrote bill text. The bill was significantly reduced in size and scope from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion. The bill passed the House today on a vote of 220 to 213. Though the package of bills passed by the Ways and Means Committee in September included the HTC provisions, many community development incentives, including the Historic Tax Credit provisions, were not included in the House-passed BBB bill.

Congress is now poised to pass a bill that contains only the recent BBB framework provisions – leaving the HTC enhancements behind. HTC advocates have just a few remaining weeks to get HTC provisions back in the Senate version of the BBB bill. This reconciliation bill is essentially a Democratic exercise, and no Republicans will be voting for the bill. Democratic Senate Leadership will be trying to close a final deal with Senate Democratic Moderates in early December, but a final deal and Senate vote could languish through the week of December 15th.

The HTC is the most successful federal program that supports historic preservation. These HTC provisions would be the biggest improvement and expansion to the HTC in a generation. The leading voices on climate action call for more building reuse to mitigate the effects of climate change. The HTC provisions would benefit ALL HTC-eligible projects, from Main Street to large-scale rehabilitation efforts across the country.

Click here for additional Historic Tax Credit advocacy resources.