Committee Dems Reject Tax Credit for Home Buyers

State Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs, today fought to ease the financial burden for new homebuyers by proposing a tax credit for buyers of new single-family homes. House Finance Committee Democrats killed the proposal on a party-line vote

“The root of our current economic crisis falls flat on the fact that people are no longer purchasing homes,” Liston said. “By providing this incentive for new home buyers, we could start getting this market moving again and put these people back to work.:

Liston’s House Bill 1212 would have allowed buyers of new single-family homes to receive a tax credit of 3 percent of the purchase price, up to a maximum of $10,000.

“This was a solid job creation bill that could have gone a long way toward getting Colorado’s economy back on solid footing,” Liston said. “We need to be looking at every way we can to get the housing market moving again. This proposal would have provided a great incentive for people to go out and buy a home.”

HB 1212 had garnered a unanimous recommendation by the Joint Select Committee on Job Creation and Economic Growth.

"Potential new home buyers are sitting on their cash, afraid to make that investment,” Liston said. “My bill would have given that potential homebuyer an incentive to engage a homebuilder in constructing a new home, getting those people back to work.”

Liston says that the construction of new homes provides well-paying jobs for carpenters, electricians, plumbers, designers, and many others. “These are high-paying jobs,” Liston said. “Some of these jobs pay upwards of $100,000.”

“This was a modest proposal to get our economy moving again,” Liston said. “I am sorry that the Democrats sitting on the House Finance Committee disagreed. Hopefully we can move beyond these partisan votes and work together to get the economy back on track.”

HB 1212 was killed today on a party line vote in the House Finance Committee.