An uncommon consortium of Virginia Democrats and Republicans have pulled together to push a new tax incentive to repair the country’s aging schools. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb, both Virginia Democrats, introduced a bill Wednesday that provides a 20 percent federal tax credit for private sector developers that partner with communities to improve older school buildings. It already has the backing of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., introduced similar legislation in his chamber, a major victory for any bill, particularly one brought on by Democrats.
Even more rare, Republican George Allen and Democrat Tim Kaine, fighting to take Webb’s Senate seat in 2012, both threw their support behind the plan.
“This is a win-win-win,” Warner said. “It can put people back to work upgrading our schools, it will engage private capital at a time of limited public resources, and it should result in safer, modern school facilities for students.”
The bill lifts limits in the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit Incentives program that often prevent communities from qualifying for the credit for the purpose of fixing schools. Warner and Webb pointed to an Economic Policy Institute study estimating U.S. schools need $500 billion in repairs and upgrades and nearly 10,000 jobs are created for every $1 billion spent on construction.
The federal tax credit can be coupled with Virginia’s 25 percent tax credit for historic building rehabilitation.
Warner lobbied Republican governors to push Congress to modernize schools at a recent meeting of the Southern States Energy Board. He touted the measure as a means to jump-start the economy and retrofit dated buildings to help school districts save money on energy bills. Rural and urban districts would particularly benefit from the projects and the energy savings could make the construction cost neutral over time.
Warner, a member of the bipartisan Gang of Six, has actively worked to build unlikely coalitions on energy policies in addition to pushing the congressional supercommittee to go big and reduce the deficit by $4 trillion, not the $1.2 trillion predicated in the debt ceiling deal.
On this issue, he — and Webb, the bill’s chief co-sponsor — have succeeded.
“They say we’ve run out of common ground in this nation,” McDonnell said. “This bill demonstrates just how mistaken that belief is.”
