Maine Preservation: Future of historic tax credits at risk
Courtesy / Maine Preservation
Here's how the completed 48-unit affordable senior housing project at the old Cony High School in Augusta looks after a renovation that received historic tax credits from Maine State Housing Authority allowing developers to raise $6.8 million toward the $11 million project. Maine Preservation has issued an alert that the latest tax reform proposal from the U.S. House of Representatives does not preserve the Historic Tax Credit. It's encouraging "friends of preservation in Maine" to lobby Maine's congressional delegation to restore that tool of economic development to the tax reform proposal now moving through Congress.
Maine Preservation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit member-based statewide historic preservation organization, issued an alert Thursday to “friends of preservation in Maine” that the latest tax reform proposal from the U.S. House of Representatives does not preserve the Historic Tax Credit.
Without the federal HTC, the organization stated in its advisory, the Maine State Tax Credit would be at risk and “Maine’s historic towns, cities and Main Streets could lose an essential tool that drives economic growth.”
Maine Preservation highlighted the HTC’s economic impacts in Maine since 2008:
- 83 HTC projects
- 5,180 new jobs
- 1,440 housing units
- $42.2 million generated in taxes
- $700 million in total direct and indirect economic impact.
“The HTC has helped revitalize communities across Maine and throughout the United States,” Maine Preservation stated in its alert. “Legislators, developers and community leaders agree it has stimulated economic growth through private investment that creates well-paying, local jobs. Tax reform must not come at the expense of a program that more than pays for itself and has a proven track record of creating jobs, saving historic buildings and bringing new vitalities to our communities.”
The Yarmouth-based nonprofit is encouraging HTC supporters to contact U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine District 1, and Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine District 2, and U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, asking them to retain the Historic Tax Credit in the reformed tax code.
Read more
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments