Isakson to push for housing tax credit bill

WASHINGTON — A much-anticipated proposal to give any homebuyer a $15,000 tax credit didn’t make it into the $789 billion economic stimulus bill Congress is expected to vote on in the coming days.

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But Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson, who sponsored the legislation in an attempt to jump-start the ailing housing industry, isn’t giving up just yet.

Isakson said Thursday he will continue to push for the tax credit in a separate, standalone bill, and hinted that the idea may be gaining support among Democrats too.

“Quite frankly there is so much outward support for what we did … that I wouldn’t at all be surprised if you didn’t see it come back in some form with a Democrat’s name on it,” he said.

Isakson said he has heard from consumers who have already put contracts on houses in hopes that the credit will be enacted one way or another this year.

“Just the fact that it was being anticipated was starting to drive the market,” Isakson said.

A survey released earlier this week by Fix Housing First, a coalition led by housing industry companies, found that the majority of Americans support the idea. According to supporters of the bill, it would have quickly helped create tens of thousands of jobs and pumped millions of dollars into the economy.

Isakson, a former Cobb County real estate broker, modeled his proposal after a similar tax credit program in the mid 1970s that helped pump up the housing business back then.

But as lawmakers began looking to for ways to pare the cost of the massive bill, Isakson’s provision quickly became a target. The proposal would’ve tacked $35.5 billion onto the cost of the economic stimulus bill.

Despite his push for the tax credit, Isakson and Georgia’s other senator, Republican Saxby Chambliss, voted against the original Senate stimulus bill that contained the provision, saying the overall bill contained too much spending and not enough tax breaks.

Even with the Isakson provision gone, some homebuyers could get a tax break under the economic stimulus plan.

Isakson and others said that the final bill will likely still contain a previously agreed to $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers who meet certain income limitations.