Last month, Senator Cardin (D-MD), Senator Cassidy (R-LA), Senator Cantwell (D-WA), and Senator Collins (R-ME) introduced the Senate version of the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO), S. 2266. Like the House version of HTC-GO (which presently has 56 Cosponsors), the Senate legislation would bring more value to Historic Tax Credit projects, improve access to the credit, and encourage investment in smaller rehabilitation projects. However, the Senate bill differs from the House version in that it does not include a temporary increase in the HTC from 20%-30% to address pandemic challenges. HTC advocates anticipate that Sen. Cardin will introduce this temporary provision as a separate bill in July.
Key provisions of the Senate HTC-GO bill:
- Increases the credit from 20% to 30% for projects with less than $2.5 million in qualified rehabilitation expenses, making it easier to complete small rehabilitation projects.
- Lowers the substantial rehabilitation threshold, making more buildings eligible to use the HTC.
- Eliminates the requirement that the value of the HTC must be deducted from a building’s basis (property’s value for tax purposes), increasing the value of the HTC and making it easier to pair with the federal Affordable Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC).
- Eliminates several IRS restrictions with tax-exempt leasing that make it challenging for groups such as nonprofits, community health centers, local art centers, affordable housing, and homeless services to partner with developers on historic preservation initiatives.
President Biden has recently hailed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan agreement on an infrastructure bill with a small group of Senate Republicans. In addition to the bipartisan deal, House and Senate Democrats remain committed to moving a separate, robust infrastructure bill forward under budget reconciliation. As a result, many in Washington believe the two infrastructure bills will move on parallel tracks this summer, with a final vote on both anticipated by this fall or year-end. The House passed all the HTC-GO provisions (both temporary and permanent) in an infrastructure bill last year (HR 2). In addition to requesting co-sponsorship for HTC bills, advocates should request the inclusion of these provisions in the emerging infrastructure bill.
Contact Your Senators
To locate the names and phone numbers of your Senators, click here. Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121 and asked to be connected to your or Senator’s DC office.
- Send a message to your Senators through their website and select “tax” or “taxation” as the issue area.
- Or call (during office hours) the office of your House Member. Introduce yourself as a constituent and ask for the email address of tax staff.
Ask/Explain to your Member of Congress:
- Introduce yourself as a constituent
- “Now is the time to strengthen this proven incentive to address the slowdown in rehabilitation projects across the country, particularly smaller projects in our main street communities and downtowns.”
- “Would the Senator please cosponsor S. 2266-The Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO) sponsored by Senators Cardin/Cassidy/Cantwell/Collins?”
- Explain how enacting these provisions would benefit your community
- “These provisions were included and passed in the House Infrastructure bill (HR 2) in July 2020. Please look for opportunities to include these provisions in future infrastructure legislation.”
- Please share the Senate HTC-GO Fact Sheet as a link or attachment
Additional Resources
As always, thank you for your continued advocacy! Please share any responses you receive from Senate offices and gain any additional assistance with advocacy by emailing: