Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) today introduced the New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act of 2023. The bill is a bipartisan, American Bankers Association-backed bill that would permanently extend the NMTC with $5 billion in annual credit authority, adjusted in future years for inflation. The bill also provides an exception from the alternative minimum tax for NMTC investments.

This legislation is a key part of ABA’s recently released 2023 Blueprint for Growth. “New Market Tax Credits are a vital tool to promote greater economic growth in economically distressed rural, urban and tribal communities by stimulating the private investment needed to grow businesses and create jobs,” the Blueprint says. In a social media post thanking Cardin and Daines, ABA noted that “America’s banks support the NMTC and the important investments it encourages in communities across the country.”

The legislation — co-sponsored by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) — builds on recent congressional investments in the NMTC, including a 44% increase in annual allocation of credits to $5 billion in 2019 and a five-year NMTC extension enacted in 2020.