Congress Reviews Residential Real Estate Tax Breaks

The House Committee on Ways and Means recently held a public hearing on “Tax Reform and Residential Real Estate.” In preparation for this hearing, the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation issued a report summarizing the various tax code breaks for residential real estate. In addition to homeownership tax incentives, the report also described the tax provisions that offer incentives for rental housing such as the low-income housing credit, the rehabilitation credit, tax-exempt bond financing for rental housing, accelerated depreciation for rental housing, passive activity loss rules, and special rental real estate rules.

At the hearing, invited Housing Advisory Group Chairman Bob Moss discussed the LIHTC program. Moss' testimony focused on the efficiency and flexibility of the LIHTC program, the quantity and quality of affordable housing that it has produced since its enactment, and the major economic contributions that have resulted from the program. Panelists from the National Association of Homebuilders and the National Multi Housing Council also made similar supportive points.

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