2/16/04
From: http://www.preservationmaryland.org/html/advocacy.html#alerts
(with minor editorial modifications).
Act Now to Save
Maryland’s Heritage Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program
Hearings Starting Feb. 19th.
Support SB190 & HB289!!
Issue: Maryland’s
Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program is slated to sunset on June
1, 2004 unless legislation is passed to continue it. Following
the recommendation of a Task Force chaired by Comptroller William
Donald Schaefer, Governor Ehrlich has filed legislation (SB190
& HB289) that extends Maryland’s most effective tool
for historic preservation and community revitalization.
Summary of Proposed
Legislation:
* Extends the sunset
date for the program to January 1, 2010.
* Creates an annual tax credit cap of $30 million for commercial
projects.
* Continues the per-project tax credit cap of $3 million for commercial
projects.
* Creates a per-project tax credit cap of $50 thousand for owner-occupied
residential projects.
See Summary Tax Credit
Legislation with 1/28/04 Alert at:
http://www.preservationmaryland.org/html/advocacy.html#alerts
Unfortunately, competing
legislation (SB246 & HB 679) has been filed by Senator Currie
and Delegate Hixson that would transform the existing program
from a tax credit to grant program. The amount of funding for
the program is undefined in the bill and is required to be submitted
in the Governor’s budget and passed by the General Assembly
on an annual basis. Converting the Heritage Tax Credit to a grant
program would further undermine its predictability, add bureaucratic
layers, and eliminate the market driven nature of a tax credit.
See summary of Tax
Credits v. Grants with 2/12/04 alert at:
http://www.preservationmaryland.org/html/advocacy.html#alerts
Action needed: Please
contact members of the Senate Budget & Taxation and House
Ways & Means Committees to ask them to support SB190 &
HB289 and continuation of the Heritage Tax Credit Program. Ask
them to oppose ruining such a successful program by attempting
to convert it to a grant. If you can, cite specific projects in
their districts that have resulted from the tax credit or that
are threatened by its elimination. Even if your representatives
do not serve on these Committees, please contact them on this
issue. If you are unsure who your representatives are, you can
find them on the Maryland General Assembly website.
Delegate Hixson can
be phoned at 1-800-492-7122, ext. 3469 (toll free) or e-mailed
at:
sheila_hixson@house.state.md.us
(that's an underscore between sheila and hixson)
or see her website at: http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/msa12241.html
Budget Committee:
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/05sen/html/com/01bud.html
Ways and Means Committee:
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/com/07ways.html
General Assembly Website:
http://mdelect.net/
(Look Up form option--you will have to submit
your address and then "run query" after getting address
confirmation).
The hearing for both
of the House bills (HB289 & 679) has been scheduled by the
Ways & Means Committee next Thursday February 19 at 1:00 p.m.
A hearing for the Senate bill has yet to be scheduled.
Please plan to attend
the hearings to show your support for continuation of the Rehabilitation
Tax Credit program. If you would like to testify, remember to
sign up one hour before the hearing and to submit 30 copies of
you testimony to members of the committee.
Everyday you read
about budget pressures in Annapolis, so it’s important to
demonstrate support for this important program!
Thursday, February
19 @ 1:00 p.m.
House Ways & Means Committee
Lowe House Office Building, Room 100
84 College Avenue, Annapolis
