New Reports Give Additional Insight into New Markets Tax Credit Investments

Data recently released from the U.S. Department of Treasury's CDFI Fund reports newly updated information on economic development spurred by the New Markets Tax Credit through 2011. The press release and links to full reports appear on the CDFI Fund website. The data shows that over 75% of the tax credits were invested in census tracts that met indicators of severe distress, including low incomes, high rates of poverty, or high unemployment rates. The CDFI Fund has awarded in total $36.5 billion in NMTC Allocation Authority through 2012. All entities that have been awarded allocations are required to submit an annual report on the investments in low-income communities.

Florida Community Loan Fund, FCLF, has been awarded a total of $151 million in New Markets Tax Credit allocation. FCLF's NMTC Program, dedicated to improving low-income communities through projects with broad social impact, includes:

• 10 projects to date
• 915,000 square feet of facilities
• 1200 temporary jobs created or retained
• 689 permanent jobs created or retained

You can read more about FCLF NMTC projects on our NMTC Program Fact Sheet, and learn more about projects such as Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa and Camillus House in Miami.

The NMTC Coalition has released a report based on surveys of NMTC activity through 2012. The report summary states:

In 2012 alone, the NMTC was responsible for the direct creation of almost 50,000 jobs in economically distressed urban and rural communities across the country, according to a new report from the NMTC Coalition. These 47,821 jobs represent an impressive two percent of the 1.8 million jobs created in America last year. The 2013 NMTC Progress Report provides detailed insights into how the NMTC was used in 2012, including the types of projects it helped finance and the areas where these projects occurred, and presents findings on the impacts of these investments, at both the micro and macro levels.

Also from the NMTC Coalition comes this update on the NMTC Program:

Last month, Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) together introduced the New Markets Tax Credit Act of 2013 (S. 1133), legislation that would extend the Credit indefinitely by making it a permanent part of the Internal Revenue Code, and enhance the potential impact of the Credit by increasing the annual NMTC allocation. A permanent extension would ensure that a modest federal tax credit continues to be available for investments made in businesses or economic development projects in census tracts in which the poverty rate is at least 20 percent or median family income does not exceed 80 percent of the area median – projects and communities that likely would never have received injections of patient capital otherwise.

The New Markets Tax Credit Program continues to be an important part of economic development and jobs creation, not only in Florida but throughout our nation.

Pictured: Metropolitan Ministries Miracle Place new campus construction, an NMTC project in Tampa, Florida.