Historic Tax Credits
There's an important vote tomorrow morning in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on the future of the MO Historic Tax Credit program.
Sen. Chuck Gross (R-St. Charles) has tried for several sessions to destroy the credit for budgetary reasons. He has reduced the scope of his bill to barring the credit's use on residential projects and barring its 3-year carryback feature (that makes the HTC so appealing to businesses for purchase and drives its market). Either of these changes would be disastrous for the program and for the City of St. Louis.
This could be a disaster. The legislators may think they are making an adjustment or a small change to the program for budget reasons, but it will cripple the program. A comparable "adjustment" was made by the Iowa legislature in 2004. Their "small change" to their tax credit law brought a halt to historic rehab statewide and created a waiting list for tax credits to 2018!
This would also be disastrous for Kansas City. I've heard we've used it even more than St. Louis. This should really be a state-wide issue. It would be a perfect way to unite urban-minded activists in both cities, and other historic communities like Springfield, St. Joseph, Cape Girardaeu, Columbia, etc.
Posted by BlogKC on Thu., Mar 16, 2006 at 7:59 AMI don't suppose that a St. Charles legislator would be crass enough to calculate that some of the slowing growth in the ex-urbs is due to the increasing popularity of the rebuilding urban core, would he?
Posted by publiceye on Thu., Mar 16, 2006 at 9:51 AMWhile Gross is aiming at urban areas like St. Louis city, he also may be aiming at the core of St. Charles, which has an impressive stock of historic homes whose values are appreciating nicely while newer ballon-frame homes elsewhere in the county are starting to age gracelessly. There are signs that some developers are eyeing old St. Charles these days. Developers and home builders in St. Charles County have a lot to lose with historic tax credit projects in St. Louis as well as in St. Charles.
Posted by Michael Allen on Thu., Mar 16, 2006 at 10:59 AMGood point, Michael.
Posted by publiceye on Thu., Mar 16, 2006 at 12:54 PMSo what happened?
Posted by Paul K on Fri., Mar 17, 2006 at 7:03 PM
Right a Wrong. Submit any tips or story ideas by using our anonymous email form. Confidentiality is guaranteed.