BUILDER NEWS Republican Tax Reform Plan Slams Middle Class G ranger MacDonald, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and developer from Kerrville, Texas, today issued the following statement on the tax plan unveiled by House Republicans: “The House Republican tax reform plan abandons middle-class taxpayers in favor of high-income Americans and wealthy corporations. The bill eviscerates existing housing tax benefits by drastically reducing the number of home owners who can take advantage of mortgage interest and property tax incentives. “And capping mortgage interest at $500,000 for new home purchases means that home buyers in expensive markets will effectively lose this housing tax benefit moving forward. “The House leadership killed a cost-effective plan proposed by NAHB that Ways and Means Committee leaders agreed to include in the legislation. It would provide a robust homeownership tax credit that would have helped up to 37 million additional home owners who do not currently itemize. Most of them are low- and moderate-income home owners. “Meanwhile, as corporations receive a major tax cut, small businesses, which generate the lion’s share of job growth, get limited relief. “The bottom line: Congress is ignoring the needs of America’s working-class families and small businesses. “And by undermining the nation’s longstanding support for homeownership and threatening to lower the value of the largest asset held by most American families, this tax reform plan will put millions of home owners at risk.” House Passes Joint Employer Bill, Providing Certainty for Small Businesses T he National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) today commended the House for passing the bipartisan Save Local Business Act, legislation that would amend the National Labor Relations Act and Fair Labor Standards Act to restore a common sense joint employer standard for home building firms and other small businesses. “Under current law, it is possible for a home builder to be considered a joint employer through such a basic business act as setting the work schedule of their subcontractor,” said NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald, a home builder and developer from Kerrville, Texas. “This bill would reinstate the sensible criteria that has worked for the American business community for more than 30 years and provide legal certainty for all business owners.” In 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) overturned decades of precedence in the case of Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. by affirming that a company could be considered a joint employer if it has indirect control or the potential to determine the key terms of an employee’s employment, including hiring and firing, supervision, scheduling and the means and method of employment. Read More 28 HBRA of Fairfield County | NOVEMBER 2017 New Home Sales Pace Hits 10-year High S ales of newly built, single-family homes in September rose 18.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000 units from an upwardly revised August reading, according to data from HUD and the Census Bureau. This is the highest sales rate since October 2007. Year-to-date, new home sales are 8.6% above their level over the same period last year. “The September sales numbers show that there is solid, growing demand for new home construction,” said NAHB chairman Granger MacDonald. “However, builders need to continue to monitor rising construction costs to keep houses affordably priced.” “New home sales have bounced back from a few soft months and have returned to the strong growth trend we saw earlier this year,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “As existing home inventory remains tight, we can expect new homes sales to continue to make gains in the months ahead.” The inventory of new homes for sale was 279,000 in September, which is a five-month supply at the current sales pace. New home sales increased in all four regions. Sales rose 33.3% in the Northeast, 25.8% in the South, 10.6% in the Midwest and 2.9% in the West.
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