美国国家公共电台 NPR How The House Tax Overhaul Bill Could Hurt Affordable Housing

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Republicans are set to unveil their tax bill compromise later today. And people who build affordable¹ housing are desperate to see what is in this bill. That's because the House version would scrap² a tax incentive³ that underpins⁴ about half of the affordable housing units that get built across the country. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE⁵: Since the House version of the tax bill was first passed, housing advocates have been scared. They say that a provision in it would mean that a lot of working families - people on lower incomes and the elderly - would lose out on the chance to get a place that they could afford to live.

DIANE YENTEL: The effect would be devastating⁶. It would mean a loss of around 800,000 affordable rental⁷ homes over the next 10 years.

ARNOLD: Diane Yentel heads up the National Low Income Housing Coalition⁸. She says for decades, there's been this bedrock funding mechanism⁹ that's helped millions of affordable housing units to get built. It's called a private activity bond. And it allows banks and other companies to get a tax break if they invest in affordable housing construction. But in the House version, Yentel says this funding mechanism gets destroyed.

YENTEL: This essentially¹⁰ eliminates nearly half of the affordable homes that can be developed or preserved throughout the country through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.

ARNOLD: Now, lawmakers say that they've reached a deal on the tax bill, but they're not talking about this provision publicly yet. A senior congressional aide tells NPR that the Senate version has won out on this score. That would be great, say the advocates, since it didn't have this poison pill. But other reports disagree with that and say that lawmakers still have been negotiating over these private activity bonds. So until the final language is unveiled later today, there's a lot of confusion.

BARBARA THOMPSON: The waiting is torture. So much is at stake.

ARNOLD: Barbara Thompson is the executive director of the National Council of State Housing Agencies. She's hearing that the framework for these crucial housing bonds will survive.

THOMPSON: We are cautiously optimistic.

ARNOLD: But she's also worried by reports that lawmakers have been making changes to the program that still might mean fewer of these bonds get used for affordable housing.

THOMPSON: Changes that will severely¹¹ limit the resources available. And we're talking about billions of dollars potentially being at stake.

ARNOLD: The reason that this system of tax credits and subsidies¹² has been so crucial is that it reduces the cost of construction, so that the developers, who are often nonprofits, can charge less money for the units, which makes them affordable. OK. So why would Republicans in the House want to throw a grenade into this system if it's been working? Scott Greenberg is an analyst¹³ with the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation.

SCOTT GREENBERG: Tax exempt¹⁴ bonds are probably a relatively¹⁵ inefficient¹⁶ way of subsidizing projects meant to benefit the public.

ARNOLD: Basically, Greenberg's saying that you could get more bang for your buck¹⁷ subsidizing affordable housing in other ways. So he's been in favor of scrapping¹⁸ this tax break. Chris Mayer is a housing economist¹⁹ with Columbia Business School. He hopes that Congress does not scrap these housing subsidies because he says if it does, he worries...

CHRISTOPHER MAYER: We're not going to replace them with a more efficient program. And that means - what we're doing on that is cutting the subsidies for low-income people. We're making it more expensive for them to live. We end up with more people being homeless. And we end up with more families struggling in this country.

ARNOLD: Yentel says this affordable housing program has had bipartisan support for decades. Liberals get the housing that they want built. Corporations get tax credits. It creates public-private partnerships²⁰. So she's hoping that all of that will help keep the entire program intact when we see the compromise-tax-bill language later today. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF KEEM THE CIPHER'S "SHINE")

1 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

2 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

3 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

4 underpins   

n.基础材料( underpin的名词复数 )；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础；（人的）腿v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的第三人称单数 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• A powerful sense of mission underpins everything he does. 一种强烈的使命感支撑他所做的一切。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His presence at the crime underpins the case against him. 案子发生时他在场对他更不利。 来自辞典例句

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

7 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

8 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

9 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

12 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

14 exempt   

adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者

参考例句：

• These goods are exempt from customs duties.这些货物免征关税。
• He is exempt from punishment about this thing.关于此事对他已免于处分。

15 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

16 inefficient   

adj.效率低的，无效的

参考例句：

• The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
• Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。

17 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

18 scrapping   

刮，切除坯体余泥

参考例句：

• He was always scrapping at school. 他在学校总打架。
• These two dogs are always scrapping. 这两条狗总是打架。

19 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

20 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句