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We have a critical window to strengthen the Historic Tax Credit (HTC), and your voice is needed more than ever!

The reconciliation bill has now passed the Senate by a tie-breaking margin and is heading back to the House for final consideration. While this bill has cleared both chambers, it did so without the important provisions and improvements from the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO). But the process isn’t over and there’s still time to advocate for the inclusion of these essential updates!

HTC-GO has substantial bipartisan support and would make smart, targeted improvements to the credit, especially for smaller projects, affordable housing, and the revitalization of rural communities. These enhancements are a powerful way to support local economies, create jobs, and preserve the historic places that matter most.

Contact your representatives in the House and urge them to include HTC improvements in the final reconciliation package.

The more they hear from advocates like you, the greater our chances of ensuring this proven preservation and economic development tool is strengthened and not sidelined.

On June 11, 2025, the Historic Tax Credit Coalition (HTCC) hosted its annual Lobby Day, bringing together advocates from across the country to urge Congress to support improvements to the federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC).

This year’s advocacy event featured more than 70 meetings with House and Senate offices where National Trust staff across multiple departments highlighted the broad, bipartisan support for this crucial component of preservation policy.

Advocates placed enhancements to the federal HTC within the context of Senate budget reconciliation negotiations, which evolved in real time during Capitol Hill visits. Advocates worked to educate Congressional offices on the positive benefits of including enhancements to the HTC in upcoming reconciliation legislation.

The meetings also encouraged support for the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (H.R. 2941/S. 1459), a bill that would make much-needed enhancements to the HTC program. This bipartisan legislation was introduced in the House by Representatives Darin LaHood (R IL) and Tom Suozzi (D NY) and in the Senate by Senators Bill Cassidy (R LA) and Mark Warner (D VA). Senator Cassidy praised the transformative effect of the HTC in a Senate Finance Committee hearing with Treasury Secretary Bessent.

Unfortunately, HTC provisions were not included in the House version of the budget reconciliation bill, nor were they included in the Senate Finance Committee’s portion of the same bill. However, there’s still time to advocate for the HTC’s inclusion in this quickly-moving legislation. Join us in asking Congress to include enhancements to the HTC in any upcoming reconciliation packages.

Earlier this month, the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO) was introduced in the Senate (S. 1459) by Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Mark Warner (D-VA), and in the House (H.R. 2941) by Representatives Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY).

The bill includes targeted improvements to make the credit more accessible and effective, including a return to a one-year credit structure, eliminating the basis reduction requirement which will support affordable housing projects, and several provisions that support smaller projects and projects located in rural areas.

These updates are designed to build on the HTC’s long-standing success in revitalizing communities, creating jobs, and encouraging private investment in the reuse of historic buildings.

HTC-GO represents a major opportunity to ensure that this proven community development tool is better positioned to meet the needs of both urban and rural areas.

Despite strong bipartisan support for HTC-GO, however, improvements to the incentive were not included in the House Ways and Means Committee’s tax reconciliation package, which passed out of the committee earlier this month.

The Committee bill focuses primarily on extending provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and advancing the Administration’s top tax priorities.

As a result of the tight spending constraints of the House Reconciliation bill, few opportunities exist to incorporate substantive provisions for community development incentives, including the historic tax credit.

This makes HTC advocacy in the Senate critically needed. The Senate Finance Committee is currently drafting its version of the reconciliation tax bill.

Advocates must take action now to make the most of this opportunity by urging Senators to support including improvements to the HTC in the Senate package.

This is the moment advocates have been waiting for to improve the HTC.

We encourage all historic tax credit supporters to contact their Senators – especially Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee – and urge them to support HTC-GO and include it in the final reconciliation bill.

With Congress set to deliberate on the size and scope of a significant tax package over the next several weeks, your advocacy is again needed to send a powerful message to Congress that the time to improve the historic tax credit is now!

House and Senate champions recently introduced the bipartisan Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO; H.R.2941/S.1459).

The new bill brings more value to the HTC, makes the credit easier to use, and encourages rehabilitation of smaller projects and projects in rural areas.

The Historic Tax Credit has turned bygone schools, factories, and hotels into thriving places that boost local economies and preserve our past. And with improvements, the HTC will help produce even more housing options for all income levels.

As we speak, Congress is preparing to mark up and vote on a large tax bill. Rehabilitation and reuse advocates have a rare opportunity to make changes to the historic tax credit incentive and make it work even better for our communities. But Congress needs to hear from you!

A simple email from you can help modernize and improve the Historic Tax Credit. It’s quick. It matters. And it works.

Reach out to your members of Congress now, urge them to support the Historic Tax Growth and Opportunity Act of 2025 (H.R.2941/S.1459), and request the inclusion of HTC-GO bill provisions in the emerging tax bill.

With a number of tax provisions expiring at the end of 2025, Congress and the White House are highly motivated to pass a significant tax bill tax during the current legislative session.

Historic tax credits have successfully converted historic schools, factories, warehouses, hotels, and many other distinctive places into modern hubs that fuel local economies, create jobs, and preserve our heritage. We now have a chance to make this program even more effective.

But we need your help.

Grassroots advocacy makes a difference. With consistent outreach to Congressional decisionmakers, the preservation community will be well-positioned to take advantage of legislative opportunities to substantially improve and modernize the federal historic tax credit.

Reach out to your members of Congress now to urge them to protect and enhance the HTC in any forthcoming tax reform legislation.

Learn more about the Revolution Mill project featured in the photo above. The National Trust Community Investment Corporation (NTCIC), a for-profit subsidiary of the National Trust, provided tax credit financing needed for the Mill House rehabilitation, completed in May 2023.