House Ways and Means Outlines Tax Provisions of Recovery Plan, Including LIHTC.

They have established a web page HERE.

It includes a press release, summary, and the text of the draft bill.

NLIHC has a summary in their weekly Memo to Members, including a summary of Low Income Housing Tax Credit Provisions. I have pasted below:

" The House Committee on Ways and Means’ proposal for the economic recovery package deals with tax issues, and totals $275 billion portion of the $825 billion. The Committee’s package includes a provision to address the national stagnation of the low income housing tax credit market, which has stalled the development of tax credit projects.

The bill would allow states to reduce their 2009 housing credit ceiling by an amount the state would receive as a grant. This provision would reduce a state housing credit agency’s 2009 tax credit allocation by an amount that the state could then use to make grants to financially struggling projects in its 2007–2008 tax credit pipeline. The bill requires the Treasury Secretary to make a grant to the housing credit agency of each state in an amount equal to the state’s low income housing credit’s grant election amount.

The state would then use the grant to make sub-awards to finance the construction or acquisition and rehabilitation of low income buildings. The sub-awards would be made to finance a qualified low income building with or without tax credits. The state housing credit agency could only make sub-awards to non-housing credit buildings if it determines that such use would increase the total funds available to the state to build and rehabilitate affordable housing. Any grant funds unused as of January 1, 2011, would be returned to Treasury. For these grants, the bill would authorize “such sums” as may be necessary.

While this might solve the immediate crisis of stalled LIHTC projects, new projects will continue to be limited going forward.

The Committee’s bill also would remove the existing repayment requirement on the $7,500 first time homebuyer tax credit for homes purchased between January 1 and June 30, 2009, when the tax credit is set to expire, essentially turning the tax credit into a grant. The Committee estimates this provision will cost $2.686 billion over the next 10 years.

The Ways and Means Committee’s package would also create “recovery zone” tax exempt bonds and tax credit bonds for areas within states, cities or counties that have high unemployment, foreclosures or poverty. These bonds, expected to be issued in 2009 and 2010, would be allocated to states and large municipal governments based on the number of unemployed individuals. The recovery zones’ new resources would then seek to stimulate economic development.

The large package would also expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, increase the child tax credit, provide state and local government and businesses various tax benefits, increase unemployment insurance payments, encourage states financial incentives if they adopt unemployment insurance improvements and provide additional Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits, among other provisions."