Legislation Would Give Builders a Big Break

Wall Street Journal (04/03/08) P. A3; Corkery, Michael
Senate legislators this week took the wraps off a bipartisan provision that would allow companies, most notably home builders, to apply current losses to taxes paid four years ago rather than the current two-year carry-back. The plan would help builders, in particular, but also financial-services firms and banks, because they could apply recent losses against the inflated profits they earned during the housing boom. The carry-back provision, which is being proposed as part of a broader legislative package aimed at the troubled residential real estate market, has been one of several core issues that builders have been pushing to compel Capitol Hill to do more to help the housing market. Builders had lobbied unsuccessfully to have the carry-back be included in the White House's economic-stimulus plan.