Dear Chairman Brady,
The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Coalition and its members would like to congratulate you on your new position as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. We are excited to have the opportunity to work with you in your new role, and look forward to serving as a resource for your office as you contemplate reforming the tax code.
Before you begin your work on tax reform, we urge you to take action to ensure that expired provisions like the New Markets Tax Credit receive a multi-year extension. The NMTC was designed to increase the flow of capital to businesses and low income communities by providing a modest tax incentive to private investors. Since its implementation, the NMTC has leveraged an unprecedented level of investment to low-income communities—delivering more than $70 billion in total capital investment through public-private partnerships. Without an extension, hard hit urban and rural communities will be deprived of billions in financing for important projects.
Last spring, the NMTC Coalition organized a letter from 1,600 businesses, trade associations, local elected officials, and nonprofit organizations urging Congress to extend the NMTC. That letter includes several dozen signatures from organizations located in Texas, where the program has generated nearly $2 billion in total project financing, creating more than 20,000 jobs. For example, the NMTC helped the Houston Food Bank acquire and rehabilitate three buildings totaling more than 440,000 square feet. The new facility quadruples the size of the food bank’s former space.
Over the past 30 years, community development spending has fallen by more than 75% as a share of GDP. The NMTC is filling that gap and meeting the needs of low income communities at a lower cost to the federal government. Furthermore, instead of Washington picking winners and losers, the NMTC empowers local decision-making on important economic development projects. From business expansions to new healthcare and childcare facilities, the program was designed as a flexible incentive for economic development that meets evolving community needs.
This program has always received bipartisan support. We hope you will make a NMTC extension a priority for the Committee.
Congratulations again, and we look forward to working with you in the coming years.
