Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC - often pronounced "lie-tech", Housing Credit) is a dollar-for-dollar tax credit in the United States for affordable housing investments. It was created under the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) and gives incentives for the utilization of private equity in the development of affordable housing aimed at low-income Americans. LIHTC accounts for the majority (approximately 90%) of all affordable rental housing created in the United States today. As the maximum rent that can be charged is based upon the Area Median Income ("AMI"), LIHTC housing remains unaffordable to many low-income (<30% AMI) renters. The credits are also commonly called Section 42 credits in reference to the applicable section of the Internal Revenue Code. The tax credits are more attractive than tax deductions as the credits provide a dollar-for-dollar reduction in a taxpayer's federal income tax, whereas a tax deduction only provides a reduction in taxable income. The "passive loss rules" and similar tax changes made by TRA86 greatly reduced the value of tax credits and deductions to individual taxpayers. Less than 10% of current credit expenditures are claimed by individual investors. The cost to the federal government of this program is approximately $6B per year.

The United States Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) adversely affected many investment incentives for rental housing while leaving incentives for home ownership. Since low-income people are more likely to live in rental housing than in owner-occupied housing, this would have decreased the new supply of housing accessible to them. The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) was hastily added to TRA86 to provide some balance and encourage investment in multifamily housing for those in need of affordable rental housing options. Over the subsequent 20 years, it has become an extremely effective tool for developing affordable rental housing, but less efficient economically when compared to programmatic approaches. The LIHTC program has helped meet a critical affordable housing shortage by stimulating the production or rehabilitation of nearly 2.4 million affordable homes since 1986. Through development activity, the LIHTC creates and supports approximately 95,000 jobs annually - the majority of which are small business sector jobs.

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