Isakson Pitches $15,000 Tax Credit for Home Buyers

Macon Telegraph (GA) (01/31/08)
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., has introduced a proposal in Washington to give home buyers a tax credit of $15,000, to be distributed over a three-year period. Property purchases by owner-occupiers that close between March 2008 and February 2009 would qualify for the incentive, which Isakson said will stimulate new demand for homes. "I don't know a lot about a lot of things, but I made my living in this business for 32 years," noted the former realty executive during a Capitol Hill press conference. "You gotta put back into the equation the missing man who's just not there, and that's the buyer." While Isakson believes the legislation would additionally massage the residential property market by propping up the construction market, helping home builders shrink the oversupply of dwellings on the market and helping troubled borrowers and distressed lenders that are dealing with bad loans, critics say the focus needs to be on rescuing existing homeowners from the threat of foreclosure.