The Ups and Downs of State Historic Preservation Incentives

Study after study has proved that the federal historic tax incentive program, through the rehabilitation and ultimate adaptive reuse of older and historic buildings, has been one of the most successful and cost effective programs in leveraging private investment, fostering public private partnerships and creating jobs in both good and bad economies. The program has been so successful that many states, as my February article pointed out, have adopted their own incentive programs. Unfortunately, while many state historic tax credit programs have proved successful over the years, some have been altered to the point where their usefulness is questionable, and others have been eliminated. The following article will look at several states that have had successful historic tax credit programs that ultimately suffered these fates and some of the reasons why.