Blimey! Where are you NAR and why aren’t you weighing in? I am probably a little late in my rant but we have been receiving call to actions for extending the mortgage interest deduction and other key pieces of legislation that affect home ownership recently as Congress is wrapping up for the year with major tax legislation on the table. I’m not sure why or how this has slipped through the cracks.
The Bill that was signed last night and should be before the president ASAP and is a very broad bill that has some major changes to the current energy efficient tax credits. There are still incentives for builders to build efficient homes ($2000) and manufacturers to build more efficient appliances. However, gone will be the $1500 or 30% tax credit for the consumers who choose more efficient products or made energy improvements to their homes.
Obviously, this is a huge step backward and frankly, we should have made more of a fuss. This program is a wonderful advantage of homeownership, gives consumers some real incentive to upgrade in a more socially responsible way, drives load on utilities down, and drives demand up for manufacturers and contractors.
The Tax Incentives Assistance Project can offer more detail on these new tax incentives. I think we need to start an AG grass roots effort to push for some amendments to this current legislation that at least include something meaningful for the consumer.
