The House Republican tax bill suffered a dramatic setback over the weekend when the National Association of Home Builders came out against the proposal days before it was to be publicly released, The Washington Post reported.
The powerful business interest group said it will oppose the bill after being told the group’s plan to have popular homeowner deductions converted into a credit had been eliminated.
Granger MacDonald, chairman of the home builders association, said on Monday that lawmakers had “missed a golden opportunity to give the American people a tax reform package that would boost middle-class families and promote greater housing opportunity for Americans across the economic spectrum.”
"This plan is particularly disappointing, given that the nation's home builders warned that the proposal would severely diminish the effectiveness of the mortgage interest deduction and presented alternative policies that would retain an effective housing tax incentive in the tax code,” he added.
According to the Post, Rep. Kevin Brady, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Jerry Howard, chief executive of the National Association of Home Builders, had their aides work extensively to add a “homeownership tax credit” to the bill.
This would have ultimately replaced the mortgage-interest and property-tax deductions and instead combine benefits from both into a new tax credit.
McDonald said that last week it appeared that the deal was sealed but was later informed by House leadership that the credit would be removed from the bill.
"I'm baffled," Howard told CNN.
"Our members felt like the carpet had been pulled out from under them.”
Meanwhile Brady said in a statement, per CNN, that the credit had not been completely ruled out, adding that he hoped members of Congress “would examine it closely to determine if they want it included before tax reform heads to the President's desk.”
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