The National Association of Realtors is reportedly lobbying lawmakers to extend the homebuyer tax credit through the end of 2010, but Sen. Johnny Isakson — the former real estate broker who championed the industry’s cause last year — is apparently not on board.
Linda Goold, NAR’s director of tax policy, told Realtors attending the group’s annual convention in November that last fall’s extension of the tax credit was a "nip and tuck" affair, with lawmakers making "us promise, practically in blood, that we would not come back" and request another extension (see story).
According to NAR’s Web site, the group believes the credit "should be extended through 2010," although Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus "has taken a very vocal and strong position that (it) will not be extended again and that it will expire on April 30, 2010, as presently scheduled."
Some analysts have questioned how much bang for the buck the homebuyer tax credit provides, since many who claim it would presumably have purchased a home anyway.
A spokesman for Isakson, R-Ga., tells the Wall Street Journal’s Nick Timiraos that Isakson has no plans to introduce legislation extending the credit.
Part of the benefit of the tax credit is the urgency of its impending expiration, Isakson spokeswoman Sheridan Watson told Timiraos.
Goold and Watson did not respond to requests for comment.
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