Program brings infrastructure, investment to NM

Congress should make New Market Tax Credit permanent in Biden’s American Jobs Plan

The Pueblo of Laguna, a federally recognized tribe 50 miles west of Albuquerque, recently received $14 million of Federal New Market Tax Credit allocation (NMTCs) providing for much-needed repairs, updates and improvements for the Laguna residents, in particular through new wastewater-related infrastructure including sewage, filtration and piping.

The new infrastructure will greatly improve health and safety conditions throughout all six Laguna villages, which have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This project also created 40 construction jobs paying above living wage and three permanent, full-time jobs paying above living wage with full health and pension benefits.

The project would not have been possible without help from the NMTC. Established within the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000, the NMTC provides patient, flexible capital to businesses and communities left out of the economic mainstream, creating quality jobs, improved services and economic opportunity.

One of the most efficient community economic development tools for low-income communities ever enacted, the NMTC has leveraged an unprecedented level of investment to both rural and urban low-income communities, generating over $110 billion in total capital investment through publicprivate partnerships and creating more than one million jobs. The NMTC has an outstanding track record of revitalizing some of the poorest, most disinvested communities in our country—and it has the potential to achieve even greater impact.

At the close of 2020, the NMTC was set to expire. Instead, it received a five-year, $25 billion annual extension in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, the largest extension in the history of the Credit. This extension will provide much-needed investment and advancement opportunities for underserved communities across the country.

On Feb. 25, both the Senate and House introduced bills S. 456 and H.R. 1321 with bipartisan support to make the NMTC extension permanent. Establishing permanence will provide certainty in delivering resources to low-income and marginalized communities, creating jobs, increasing economic opportunity and improving lives at a time when underserved communities face significant challenges.

The NMTC is a uniquely bipartisan program that helps drive resources and investment where it is needed most. It creates and expands access to health care, early childcare and schools, job training, groceries, telecommunications, energy, arts, recreation and infrastructure in Pueblo of Laguna and other projects in New Mexico.

Congress should ensure this resource is available — permanently — and integrate the NMTC into President Biden’s American Jobs Plan to help underserved and marginalized communities in New Mexico and across the country.