Housing = Jobs: NAHB's Efforts to Extend the Tax Credit

With the expiration of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit just weeks away, NAHB last week stepped up its “Revive Housing, Restore America” campaign, asking association members to participate in a grassroots push for the extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit.

Members are encouraged to log on to www.capitolconnect.com/builderlink to send a letter to their individual lawmakers or call 866-924-6242 (NAHB) and urge their senators and representative to extend and expand the home buyer tax credit to create jobs, reduce foreclosures and excess housing inventories, and to push housing and the economy on the path to recovery.

In the first year, NAHB estimates that an extended and expanded home buyer tax credit would:

Create nearly 350,000 jobs
Spur an additional 383,000 home sales
Increase housing starts by 82,000
Generate $16.1 billion in wages and salaries and $12.1 billion in business income
Yield tax revenues of $8.4 billion for the federal government and $3.2 billion for state and local governments

Click here for more on efforts to extend the tax credit from NAHB.