The Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) released a report on the costs and benefits of reinstating the Rhode Island Historic Preservation Investment Tax Credit (HPITC) program. RIPEC found that, in general, historic tax credit programs are not only successful at incentivizing historic preservation, but that there are additional economic benefits, such as job creation, as well as less direct benefits, so-called “spillover” effects, that generate additional economic returns. The organization finds that since the HPITC program’s inception, the state has assigned a total of $296.1 million in credits. The majority of credits (71.3 percent) were used to offset personal income tax liability but there are $14.2 million in assigned, but unused, credits. RIPEC offers suggestions to the state for reinstating the HPITC program to deal with these unused credits which the organization believes will stimulate the state’s struggling construction industry and will provide a temporary boost to the state’s economy.
Click here to read the report.
