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Businesses, Community Leaders Call On Congress to Keep New Markets Tax Credit

More than 1,400 Individuals and Organizations Send Letter to Congress in Support of the Credit

Washington, D.C. – Over 1,400 businesses, investors, nonprofit organizations and community leaders sent a letter to Capitol Hill today urging leaders of the House and Senate tax-writing committees to extend the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), a tool for creating jobs and stimulating economic growth in urban and rural communities across America. The letter comes on the heels of the Obama Administration’s renewed call for a permanent extension of NMTC and an expansion of the Credit in its Fiscal Year 2015 budget, which was released on Tuesday.

“Support for the New Markets Tax Credit remains strong on both sides of the aisle, which is a testament to its ability to revitalize the local economies of rural communities and urban neighborhoods around the country,” said Bob Rapoza, a spokesperson for the NMTC Coalition.

In June of 2013, Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced the New Markets Tax Credit Act of 2013 (S. 1133), which would expand and codify the NMTC. Then, in early December, a bipartisan coalition of 70 Members from the House of Representatives—led by Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Mike Michaud (R-ME)—sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee indicating their support for NMTC provisions.

“The NMTC has provided financing to thousands of businesses, creating 550,000 jobs in communities with high rates of poverty or unemployment,” Rapoza added. “This letter is yet another signal to Congress that, unlike many of the contentious issues they tackle, this is a program with broad support.”

The letter noted:

The NMTC is an effective and economical tool for attracting private sector capital, creating jobs and business opportunities, and improving the local economies of some of the poorest urban and rural communities in America. Instead of Washington picking winners and losers, project underwriting lies with community development organizations with ties to the communities.

In contrast, House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp released his much-anticipated tax reform discussion draft last week, which omitted the NMTC. The media release accompanying the plan did note the Committee is interested in feedback on whether there are tax extenders that should be included, including the NMTC. However, if implemented as it is currently proposed, Camp’s draft would end the NMTC program, along with several other incentives for community development—depriving recovering communities of billions in patient, flexible capital annually.

“The Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee should heed the call of thousands of businesses, local-elected officials, and organizations and work to extend the NMTC, a program with a track record of creating jobs and opportunity and sustaining local economies,” Rapoza said.

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About New Markets Tax Credit Program

The New Markets Tax Credit was enacted in 2000 in an effort to stimulate private investment and economic growth in low income urban neighborhoods and rural communities that lack access to the patient capital needed to support and grow businesses, create jobs, and sustain healthy local economies. The NMTC is a 39 percent federal tax credit, taken over seven years, on investments made in economically distressed communities. Today due to NMTC, more than $60 billion is hard at work in underserved communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

About New Markets Tax Credit Coalition

The NMTC Coalition is a national membership organization of Community Development Entities and investors organized to conduct research on and advocacy for the New Markets Tax Credit. The Coalition hosts two annual conferences and regularly publishes the NMTC Bulletin. To learn more, please visit www.nmtccoalition.org.