2008 State Rehabilitation Tax Credit effort begins!
Efforts to pass a Minnesota state rehabilitation tax credit in the 2008 Session have begun. The Preservation Alliance of Minnesota convened the Tax Credit Task Force, comprised of a coalition of partners across the state, on February 8 to assess this year’s advocacy strategy in the face of a projected state budget shortfall. Additional information is needed from our legislative partners in order to develop an effective grassroots lobbying effort. For example, we are awaiting information regarding the legislative priorities at the Senate and House level, in addition to the specific direction of their respective Taxes Committees. In the interim, the Task Force elected to send a letter restating our support for passage of the state tax credit. As the Legislature convened on February 12, the letter was on its way to the chairs and members of the Taxes Committees and past authors and cosponsors of our tax credit bill. Please click on this link to read a copy of our letter: 2008 State Tax Credit Request Letter
Take action!
Tell your legislators that you want the state rehabilitation tax credit passed in 2008. Legislators are more likely to introduce the tax credit and hold hearings on the legislation if they know they have the support of their constituents. We’ve made it easy to send a message to the Capitol. Click on this link for a sample letter of support: 2008 Sample Letter of Support.
Add your own personal touch to our sample letter of support and send this off to your state Senator and Representative. Do you need your legislator’s address? Click on this link to the Minnesota Historical Society’s Capwiz website to access quick and easy contact information: http://capwiz.com/mnhs/issues/alert/?alertid=9722066&type=ML&show_alert=1
TIP: A letter to your legislator gets more attention from their office than an e-mail!
What happened in the last session?
In 2007, the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota led the effort to pass an historic structures rehabilitation tax credit (HF1240 / SF385) at the Minnesota Legislature. The year ended with both good and bad news from the Capitol regarding the credit. The good news was that in the closing minutes of the 2007 Session the Minnesota Legislature passed, within the Omnibus Tax Bill, a significant new historic preservation incentive that would help to preserve historic structures across the state. The legislature provided $3 million for a grant program for the preservation of historic structures. While detailed program criteria needed to be developed, the program’s general eligibility criteria paralleled the federal historic preservation tax credit program. This grant program would have helped to preserve important historic structures in Minnesota and demonstrate the economic impacts of historic preservation in local communities and statewide.
Unfortunately, the bad news was Governor Tim Pawlenty’s veto of the Omnibus Tax Bill in its entirety. Despite this setback, the momentum developed in 2007, broad support amongst legislators, and the success of establishing a preservation incentive program in the Tax Bill will be a sound starting point for the Alliance at the Capitol in 2008.
Features of the proposed Historic Preservation Tax Credit
The Historic Preservation Tax Credit proposed in 2007 would provide a 25% tax credit for qualified historic rehabilitation projects, providing significant economic development benefits statewide, in small towns and large cities alike. More than half of all states, including most of Minnesota’s neighbors, already have similar programs, and we need this incentive to stay competitive. Specifically, the tax credit will:
· Allow an income tax credit of 25% of the amount spent to rehabilitate certified residential and commercial historic structures (locally designated as historic or on the National Register of Historic Places).
· Encourage private investment in historic properties, generate additional jobs and stimulate economic development within existing communities.
· Be used as an effective tool for community revitalization in urban and rural areas.
· Provide incentives to create affordable housing and market-rate housing that stabilizes neighborhoods in areas that are difficult to redevelop.
· Accelerate private investments into “Main Street” businesses and building rehabilitations, bring vacant properties back onto local tax rolls, and bolster heritage tourism efforts.