Vitter Supports Passage of Foreclosure Prevention Act

Press Release

Vitter Supports Passage of Foreclosure Prevention Act

Includes important Road Home tax credit provisions

U.S. Sen. David Vitter today supported the passage of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which included the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Amendment he co-sponsored with U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker. This provision relieves the tax burden on certain Louisiana and Mississippi residents who suffered damage to their properties during Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

"The provisions in this bill would bring fairer tax treatment for Road Home grants. Thousands of Gulf Coast residents are being unfairly penalized by the IRS simply because they took casualty loss deductions on their 2005 tax returns but then later received recovery grants from the Road Home Program," said Vitter. "It will help keep these families from being forced into higher tax brackets that would cause much larger tax bills than the benefit they received."

The amendment also extends the commencement date for construction projects eligible for GO Zone bonus depreciation. Currently, that date stands at December 31, 2007, but many projects have not yet begun due to new environmental standards, building codes and FEMA bureaucracy. The provision does not affect the project completion dates.

"The current commencement date for GO Zone bonus depreciation is counterproductive," Vitter said. "With so many more projects planned, it doesn't make sense to leave this deadline in place. If we are truly concerned about spurring recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast, we need to signal our commitment to do so. This amendment does just that by waiving the existing commencement date."

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