Urge Congress to Modernize HTC
The Historic Tax Credit (HTC) is a proven tax incentive for revitalizing historic built assets, supporting equitable economic investment in communities of all sizes and reducing both embodied and operational carbon.
Recently, Representatives Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Terri Sewell (D-AL), Mike Turner (R-OH) and Brian Higgins (D-NY) reintroduced the House version of the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO/H.R. 1785). The bill includes similar permanent provisions as the Senate version and an additional temporary provision to address recent challenges facing historic rehabilitation projects.
In early March, Senators Cardin (D-MD), Cassidy (R-LA), Cantwell (D-WA), and Collins (R-ME) reintroduced the HTC-GO Act (S. 639). Both the House and Senate bills include four permanent provisions that will add value to the Historic Tax Credit (HTC), improve access to credit, make more projects credit-eligible, and increase investment in smaller rehabilitation projects.
In the 117th Congress, this legislation reached its highest level of support yet—surpassing 100 co-sponsors. Congress must embrace existing buildings as climate assets not to be wasted, and we need your help. AIA has been advocating for the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO) for multiple legislative sessions. Now is the time to contact your member of Congress and urge that this legislation is needed now more than ever.
The federal HTC is the largest federal investment in historic preservation. Unfortunately, the value of the HTC incentive has diminished over the past decade because of IRS rulings, administrative burdens, changes in the credit structure, as well as spreading the distribution of the credit over five years (as modified by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017). As a result, the HTC has lost 20 – 25% of its investment value as interest rates continue to climb and materials and labor costs soar.
U.S. National Park Service statistics indicate that HTC applications are down 20% compared to pre-pandemic levels (2019), and the number of projects continues to decline even as the economy is rebounding. Historic buildings have simply become more difficult to rehabilitate.
However, for the first time in 20 years, renovations have overtaken new construction in architectural billings in America according to the Architecture Billings Index. AIA is among the national preservation organizations advancing the first positive modernization of the HTC since 1986.
Congress must embrace existing buildings as climate assets not to be wasted, and we need your help. AIA has been advocating for the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO) for multiple legislative sessions, Now is the time to contact your member of Congress and urge that this legislation is needed now more than ever.
Send an email asking your Members of Congress to support enhancing this time-tested tool during this Congressional session.