Hello REALTORS®,
There is some positive news for Realtors coming from Washington this week. Early on Tuesday morning, the US Senate passed its version of the President’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and NAR reports that the bill includes the top five Realtor legislative priorities that support homeownership and strengthen the real estate economy.
What does the bill include?
- Permanent extension of the lower individual income tax rates that were enacted in the 2017 Tax Reform and Jobs Act passed during President Trump’s first term.
- Enhanced and permanent qualified business income deduction (Section 199A). 90% of Realtor members are independent contractors or small business owners who will benefit from this change.
- Temporary (five-year) quadrupling of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, beginning with the current (2025) tax year.
- Protection of business SALT deductions and 1031 like-kind exchanges.
- Permanent extension of the mortgage interest deduction.
The bill also includes several other important provisions that will help Realtors:
- Certain key provisions from the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit LIHTC legislation championed by NAR are included and made permanent.
- The Child Tax Credit will be increased to $2,200, which helps homebuyers with young families.
- The Estate and Gift Tax Threshold is increased to $15 Million.
- Restoration of the “Big 3” Business Tax Provisions:
- Full expensing of research and development.
- Bonus depreciation.
- Fixes to the interest expense deduction limit.
- Immediate expensing of certain industrial structure expenses used in manufacturing, refining, and agriculture.
- No change to carried interest rules.
- Opportunity Zones are renewed with revised incentives to promote targeted investment, including in rural areas.
The game is still being played
To borrow a sports analogy, the game is still being played. So, at this writing the legislative process is ongoing. The House needs to agree with the Senate’s version, or they need to negotiate and pass legislation that they both agree upon. Then the legislation goes to the President for his approval (or veto).
But it’s been a good week for Realtors, and we should thank the Realtors who traveled to Washington last month to lobby for approval of these key issues.
- Carolann Newton
- Dianna Brouthers
- Josh Grant
- Lorraine Harding
- Melanie Dugan
- Reah Smith
- Rick Stroud
- Francine Powers
- Ashley Eller
How you can help
If real estate is your profession, politics is your business. It’s inescapable, unfortunately. Fortunately, your association is advocating on your behalf. But you can help.
RPAC is an important element of your Realtors Association’s advocacy program. I encourage you to support RPAC, and we make it easy to do so—we include a voluntary RPAC contribution on your annual dues renewal. Simply pay it and you have support RPAC. If you want to do more than that modest amount, that’s easy too.
Michael Dey, Director of Government Affairs