Preservation Tax Credit: Down to the Wire
Opposition has been mounting to a proposed tax law amendment which would temporarily defer New York State’s historic preservation tax credits. The governor and legislature have been barraged by phone calls and emails and the finance staff of the Assembly and Senate are beginning to discuss the impact of the proposal.
Preservation tax credits were hailed as an economic development tool by officials across the state and there has been widespread dismay among upstate civic leaders, developers and preservationists at what would be a crippling blow to restoration projects across the state.
The most recent proposal from the NYS Assembly and Senate (“Part Y”) is to implement a deferral of a taxpayer’s credits above $2 million dollars in value. That would mean no single taxpayer using the rehabilitation tax credit program, or any other NYS tax credits—alone, across multiple projects, or in combination with any of the other state tax credits subject to the deferral program—will be credited with more than $2 million dollars in years 2010, 2011, and/or 2012. This would severely hamper developers contemplating one or more larger scale rehabilitation projects in a single year.
More than 16,000 New York City buildings would be eligible for the tax credits along with much of upstate New York.
A vote could come anytime after midnight tonight, but you can still call NYS Assembly and Assembly leadership, and the Governor in the next few hours at the numbers below to state the importance of leaving the Rehabilitation Tax Credit program intact and free from any deferral agreement.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver:
518-455-3791
Senator John Sampson:
518-455-2788
Governor David Paterson:
518-474-8390
For NYS Senate contact information, click here
For NYS Assembly contact information, click here
It is very important that the Legislature receive a high volume of calls over the next 24 – 48 hours.
