March 17, 2010

 

On March 17, the House Ways and Means Committee passed the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010, H.R. 4849, which expands the Housing Credit Exchange program to include 4 percent Credits, as NCSHA has advocated.  It also extends the Build America Bonds (BAB) program.  The House may consider the Committee-reported bill before it recesses around March 26 for two weeks.  The Senate is also developing a small business jobs tax bill, which may be released sometime in the next few weeks.
 
The Committee-passed bill expands the Exchange program by allowing owners of tax-exempt bond-financed buildings placed in service after the bill’s enactment and prior to December 31, 2010 to exchange the 4 percent Housing Credits that would otherwise have been awarded with respect to such buildings for direct payments equal to 25.5 percent of the qualified basis of such building.  NCSHA is working with congressional staff and other advocates to address concerns we have with the statutory language, including expanding eligibility to properties that cannot be placed in service before December 31 of this year.  Though the Committee did not amend this provision during the markup, we will continue to address this issue as the bill moves forward.
 
The bill also extends the BAB program through 2013 and reduces the issuer subsidy from 35 percent of the bonds’ interest cost to 33 percent for BABs issued in 2011, 31 percent for BABs issued in 2012, and 30 percent for BABs issued in 2013.
 
The bill also excludes bonds issued to finance water and sewage facilities from state private activity bond volume caps.
 
During the markup, the Committee passed Chairman Sander Levin’s (D-MI) amendment to change the BABs new expiration date from July 1, 2013, to April 1, 2013 and permits Indian tribes to issue tax-exempt private activity bonds for sewage and water supply facilities.