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Talking Points

The Smart Growth Tax Credit will save your state money in the long run.

  • The tax break is available for a limited number of years and developers are required to collect their tax credits over a five-year period, alleviating the initial strain on the state budget.
  • A large chunk of the immediate state revenue loss will be offset by an annual increase in the taxes paid by commercial customers who will save up to 30 percent on their energy bills, raising their revenues.
  • Smart growth developments reduce the need for costly infrastructure investments that connect sprawling developments to municipalities.(1)

The Smart Growth Tax Credit will stimulate your state’s economy.

  • The tax credit is designed to jump-start the market for cutting-edge, high-density, cost-effective development by helping businesses overcome market barriers to smart growth and green building design.
  • Incentives like the Smart Growth Tax Credit can spur private sector investment in older urban and suburban areas. The wider effects of revitalization are likely to create new revenue for the state.(2)
  • Compact, green, energy-efficient urban areas, such as Portland, attract businesses.(3)

The Smart Growth Tax Credit is good for the environment.

  • Green building design saves energy and natural resources.(4)
  • Smart growth makes public transit more accessible and neighborhoods more walkable, thereby alleviating traffic and reducing related greenhouse gas emissions and smog.
  • Smart growth saves natural resources, such as ecosystems and watersheds.
Sources:
(1)Muro, Mark and Robert Puentes. “Investing in a Better Future: A Review of the Fiscal and Competitive Advantages of Smarter Growth Development Patterns.” Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, March 2004: p. 7. 26 September 2004 <http://www.brookings.edu/urban/publications/200403_smartgrowth.htm>.
(2) “State of Maryland Heritage Structure Rehabilitation Tax Credits: Economic & Fiscal Impacts.” Prepared by Lipman, Frizzell, and Mitchell, LLC for Preservation Maryland. February 2002. 26 September 2004 <http://www.preservemd.org/pdf/txcrstudy1.pdf>.
(3) Portland, Oregon, adopted extensive growth management practices beginning in the 1970s and invested in an extensive park system, which has attracted numerous new companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Hyundai, who picked the city because its quality of life would be able to attract an educated workforce. According to Bill Calder, a spokesman for Intel, the computer chip manufacturer that has nearly 9,000 employees in Oregon, “Companies that can locate anywhere they want to will go to places that attract good people.” – “Open Space and Farmland.” Smart Growth America. 27 September 2004 <http://www.smartgrowthamerica.com/openspace.html#and>.
(4) Kats, Greg. “The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings: A Report to California’s Sustainable Building Task Force.” October 2003. Capital E. 27 September 2004 <http://www.cap-e.com/ewebeditpro/items/O59F3259.pdf>.
This package was last updated on September 27, 2004.