Lack of DC Vote Endangers Tax Incentives

[This article originally appeared in the May/June 2004 issue of the CAPITAL AREA REALTOR. Click here to view the article as it appears in the newsletter (PDF file 1,596 kb).]

The lack of a vote in Congress for the District of Columbia could kill the wildly popular and frequently touted First Time Homebuyer Credit for prospective homebuyers.

Throughout 2003, GCAAR and a coalition of other business organizations labored to get the First Time Homebuyer Credit extended past its December 2003 expiration date. We met with representatives of many states in the House and Senate, worked with Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s staff and delivered your letters to Senators from Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Mississippi, New York and elsewhere.

By fall of 2003, we feared we would not be able to get someone in the House or Senate to attach an amendment extending the tax credit to a bill that could get through by the end of the year. At the last minute – just before Thanksgiving – we were gratified to get help from Virginia Congressman Tom Davis, and from Senators Baucus and Grassley among others.

The language was attached to a bill that looked like it would get to Conference Committee so the House and Senate could work out their differences. Unfortunately, in the wake of the vote on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, the two major parties were back at war and our measure was an unintended victim.

GCAAR staff and their business allies vowed to start again in January 2004, met with Norton & her staff again and began working to get an extension of this very important benefit attached as an amendment to a bill likely to make it out of committee.

Meanwhile, the European Union had begun imposing trade sanctions on the U.S. because of an international business tax situation. A bill was introduced to cure the problem and our extension was introduced as an amendment to the Senate bill by Senators Grassley and Baucus, giving us bipartisan support. A similar – but not similar enough – bill was introduced and referred to the Committee on Ways & Means in the House. A number of amendments were attached to the bill that emerged from that committee causing partisan division, and in late March that bill died. Another battle ensued on the Senate side, and the senate bill died as well.

While it is still remotely possible that we will find another bill to carry the extension of the DC First Time Homebuyer Credit before Congress goes home, this story highlights why a voting seat for DC in Congress is so very important to you as a REALTOR®. Delegate Norton fights the good fight for DC every day, and the RPAC contributions you make go to support members of Congress who will listen to the concerns of REALTORS®, including Norton. But until Delegate Norton (and whoever succeeds her one day) has a vote to trade and negotiate with, DC’s interests and concerns will always be somewhere down near the bottom of every House and Senate priority list.

This is the reason why the Washington, DC Association of REALTORS® is holding the Tea Party at the NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings here in Washington in May. We want to continue to educate NAR visitors from all over the country about how things work in the nation’s capital. We also intend to put members of Congress on notice that we believe a vote in Congress for the District of Columbia is a business matter and, more importantly, a REALTOR® issue.

If you are planning to participate in the Midyear Legislative Meetings, you will have an opportunity to offer your two cents on this and other bread-and-butter REALTOR® issues. Look for your invitation and further details in future editions of Newsline and The Code. We hope to see you there.

      Print Friendly