NEWS RELEASES
40 Years Of The Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program A Massive Help To Rehabilitating Historic Buildings
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through NPS's website.
In its 40th year, the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program, aka the Federal Historic Tax Credit program, has contributed more than $12.2 billion in output in terms of goods and services to the U.S. economy and added $6.2 billion in gross domestic product in Fiscal Year 2017. The program is administered by the National Park Service and the Internal Revenue Service, in partnership with State Historic Preservation Offices. The National Park Service certifies if a building is historic, and therefore eligible for the program, and that the rehabilitation preserves the building’s historic character. The tax incentives program was designed to revive abandoned or underutilized schools, warehouses, factories, churches, retail stores, apartments, hotels, houses, agricultural buildings, offices, and other buildings across the country.
The Rutgers University’s Center for Urban Policy Research released the report on the program, in which "50 percent of the certified rehabilitation projects were located in low and moderate income areas and more than 79 percent were located in economically distressed areas. Half of all projects were less than $1 million and 20 percent were less than $250,000." National Park Service Deputy Director P. Daniel was quoted saying in the NPS press release: "Historic preservation tax incentives continue to drive investments in historic preservation and revitalize communities across the country," said . "Over the past 40 years, this successful federal/state partnership has enabled the preservation and rehabilitation of more than 43,000 historic properties, while generating more than $144 billion in private investment along the way."
Read the full press release on how the incentives program works and the jobs created.