(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Real Estate Roundtable President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey DeBoer released the following statement on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed today by the U.S. House of Representatives.

"The Real Estate Roundtable strongly supports the House of Representatives’ effort to kick-start economic growth and job creation through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  Today, outdated and overly complicated tax laws are a drag on the broader U.S. economy.  By reducing barriers to private sector capital formation and business investment, tax reforms in the House bill would boost economic demand and job growth.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would reduce the tax burden on all job-creating businesses.  By spurring the overall economy, the legislation would allow the commercial real estate industry to put more people to work modernizing and improving existing properties — office buildings, shopping centers, apartments, industrial properties — to meet the changing and growing needs of American businesses and consumers.

The Act would also ensure that real estate continues to be taxed on an economic basis — avoiding excessive incentives or disincentives that distort markets and economic activity. 

By creating a new 25 percent tax rate for the owners of pass-through businesses — partnerships, LLCs, S corporations, and REITs — the Act would lower the cost of capital and stimulate entrepreneurial activity and business expansion.  Today, pass-through businesses earn over 60 percent of business income in the economy, and over the last 25 years, they are responsible for more than 60 percent of net new jobs in the country.

The reduced pass-through tax rate, as structured in the House legislation, is a powerful provision that should serve as a cornerstone of the final tax bill." 

As the Senate debate on its own tax reform legislation proceeds, The Roundtable will continue to work with policymakers in anticipation of a final tax reform bill that strengthens the American economy, jobs and future investment.