NAIOP Statement on PATH Act’s Importance to Commercial Real Estate
Washington, DC – December 18, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Thomas J. Bisacquino, President and CEO of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, issued the following statement on the House of Representative’s passage of Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015:
Today, the House of Representatives passed strong, pro-growth tax legislation that is significant to commercial real estate.
The legislation makes permanent a tax provision that is critical to providing consistency and simplicity for commercial real estate developers, owners and investors: 15-year qualified leasehold improvement depreciation.
For more than a decade, NAIOP has been successful in having this provision extended and has long advocated the importance of its permanency. The reduction of depreciation for tenant improvements from 39 years to 15 years incentivizes building owners to upgrade and modernize tenant space, and it reflects the reality of an improvement’s useful life.
The bill also makes permanent Section 179 Small Business Expensing. It extends the tax provisions for Bonus Depreciation, New Markets Tax Credits and Energy-Efficient Commercial Buildings Tax Deductions, and reforms the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA).
This legislation will have far-reaching benefits for our more than 18,000 members and their businesses who are investing in communities, industries and job creation. A healthy commercial real estate industry that is operating with certainty within the tax code will have confidence to continue growing, yielding generous contributions to the U.S. GDP and creating jobs across America.
NAIOP congratulates members of the House for passing this sensible legislation and urges the Senate to act quickly so that this bill can be signed into law.
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About NAIOP: NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, is the leading organization for developers, owners and related professionals in office, industrial, retail and mixed-use real estate. NAIOP comprises 15,000 members in North America. NAIOP advances responsible commercial real estate development and advocates for effective public policy. For more information, visit www.naiop.org.
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