Media

The House Ways and Means Committee this week signaled its upcoming tax policy priorities after holding a hearing on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) entitled “The 2017 Tax Law and Who It Left Behind.” The March 27th hearing was the first one focused on the TCJA since Democrats took control of the House, with policymakers examining which provisions they plan to reverse or refine.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) and President Trump this week launched separate efforts aimed at reforming the multi-trillion-dollar financial market for single-family and multifamily mortgages, including the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Legislation to reform the taxation of carried interest was introduced on March 13 by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and House Ways and Means Committee member Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ).

Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer yesterday discussed the organization’s national policy priorities in the current Congress with Roundtable Board Member Holly Neber (CEO, AEI Consultants and President, CREW Network) during the 2019 Connect Los Angeles conference.

The Roundtable joined the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) today, in an amicus brief requesting the nation’s highest court to accept a case that addresses significant property rights issues.

This week U.S. Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Doug Jones (D-AL) introduced bipartisan legislation, the Restoring Investment in Improvements Act (S. 803), to correct a mistake in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that lengthened the cost recovery period for qualified improvement property (QIP).

A business coalition that includes The Real Estate Roundtable on March 5 wrote to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to urge a delay in the implementation of the proposed Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) accounting standard, which may begin to reduce aggregate bank lending as early as next year.

The tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing this week on the need to launch a national infrastructure improvement program and potential funding sources.

The Commerce Department has initiated investigations into whether a key material used in major real estate and infrastructure projects – fabricated structural steel (FSS) from Canada, China and Mexico – is being sold in the U.S. for less than fair value. (Commerce Department announcement, Feb. 26)

Comprehensive legislative reforms to the EB-5 investment program are needed to provide stronger safeguards to combat fraud and safeguard national security while balancing rural and urban areas’ access to the program, according to a coalition of 11 national industry organizations.

Statement by Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey D. DeBoer

GAO Report Outlines Direction for Program Reforms

The Real Estate Roundtable and 27 other industry organizations today submitted principles for reforming the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which underpin the multi-trillion-dollar financial market for single-family and multifamily mortgages

The Real Estate Roundtable on Tuesday wrote to the Treasury Department and IRS about the new limitation on business interest deductibility enacted in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). The provision allows qualifying businesses to continue fully deducting interest related to commercial real estate debt.

Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) promoted the new Opportunity Zones (OZ) program in South Carolina yesterday as an example of how economically distressed areas can be redeveloped to benefit lower-income communities.

The Real Estate Roundtable's 2019 Q1 Sentiment Index released today reveals confidence from commercial real estate industry executives that today's fundamentally sound CRE markets will prove resilient when the decade-long expansion of the U.S. economy inevitably slows down.

An IRS hearing this week focused on how Opportunity Zone regulatory guidance may affect long-term investments in certain low-income communities. The hearing, originally scheduled for Jan. 10, was rescheduled due to the government shutdown in December.

The federal government this week resumed full-time operations after a 35-day partial shutdown. A three-week bill signed by President Trump last Saturday now funds approximately 25% of the government – including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – until Feb. 15. If a new funding measure is not passed, the government will face another partial shutdown.