Home builders group will not back House GOP tax reform bill

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) will not support House Republicans’ upcoming tax reform legislation, the group’s CEO told the Wall Street Journal. 

Jerry Howard told the newspaper in an interview that the NAHB could not support the bill because the proposal is not expected to include a tax credit that would take the place of deductions for property taxes and mortgage interest that are likely to be lost under the legislation.

“It’s a bad bill for the housing sector,” Howard said. “We will not be for it.”

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House Republicans are expected to unveil their tax bill on Wednesday. That measure would roughly double the standard deduction and eliminate personal exemptions. 

But the plan also reportedly weakens the deduction home mortgage borrowers can take on mortgage interest they pay.

Howard told the Journal that he had been working with the House Ways and Means Committee on a tax credit to replace the mortgage interest and property tax deductions. 

But he said House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told him on Saturday that the tax credit proposal did not get enough pick up among rank-and-file Republicans in the House.