WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced the bipartisan New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act of 2017, S. 384. The measure would promote investments in underserved communities by permanently authorizing a 39 percent federal tax credit for businesses or economic development projects in areas with poverty rates of at least 20 percent, or median incomes at or below 80 percent of the area median.
“In Maryland, the New Markets Tax Credit has been deployed across our state on a diverse range of infrastructure and community development efforts, from a supermarket project to provide greater access to healthy food in my home city of Baltimore, to a conservation center on the Eastern Shore. I am pleased once again to be a supporter of this bipartisan legislation, which will create jobs and stimulate our economy in communities across Maryland and across America,” said Senator Cardin.
“The New Markets Tax Credit Program has a proven track record of spurring investment, expanding opportunity, and improving the quality of life in communities that need it most,” Senator Blunt said. “In Missouri, the NMTC has benefited a total of 177 businesses and economic revitalization projects, creating thousands of jobs and resulting in a total of $3 billion in new investments. The NMTC provides a critical incentive for drawing much-needed capital to low-income rural and urban areas, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure it continues.”
In addition to making the NMTC permanent, the legislation increases annual NMTC allocations, indexes future allocations to inflation, and exempts NMTC investments from the Alternative Minimum Tax.
U.S. Representative Pat Tiberi (Ohio) introduced companion legislation to S. 384 in the House.
Between 2003 and 2012, over $31 billion in direct NMTC investments created an estimated 750,000 jobs. These NMTC investments leveraged an additional $31 billion in capital from other sources, all of which was invested in communities with high poverty and unemployment rates.
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