Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and several of her Democratic colleagues in the Senate unveiled a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal.
The plan would include measures from Cantwell’s Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act bill (S. 548), which seeks to strengthen the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), according to the senator.
The recently signed tax reform legislation retained the LIHTC program, but several other measures are estimated to reduce the number of affordable homes built by approximately 235,000 units over the next 10 years.
“The fact that the tax bill made affordable housing worse in the United States of America, when we have an opioid crisis and a homeless crisis, I guarantee you that everyone is going to be talking about the fact that they made it harder, harder to deal with this crisis, and gave the money away to major corporations,” Cantwell said.
The Senate Democrats’ Jobs & Infrastructure Plan for America’s Workers calls for strengthening the LIHTC program but does not mention specifics. It also seeks to boost funding for initiatives like Choice Neighborhoods and Community Development Block grants.
In order to pay for the infrastructure investment, the Democrats call for repurposing some federal revenues spent in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that benefited wealthy individuals and corporations. “Specifically, the proposal returns income and estate taxes on high-income earners and the wealthy to 2017 law,” says the plan. “It also closes the carried interest loophole and modestly increases the corporate tax rate from 21 to 25%.”
The Senate Democrats' proposal comes after the Trump administration released its infrastructure plan. The White House proposal does not address LIHTCs but does call for broadening the use of tax-exempt bonds.
