Governor comes to Bakersfield to draw attention to homebuyer tax credit plan
| Tuesday, Feb 16 2010 06:07 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Feb 16 2010 06:07 PM
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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a press conference at a Towery Homes construction site to highlight the proposal to extend the $10,000 homebuyer tax credit to include the purchase of existing homes as well as new residences. State senator Roy Ashburn, left and Towery Homes' owner Matt Towery, right, and others joined the governor at the press conference in Bakersfield.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a moment to talk to children who attended a press conference at a Towery Homes construction site to highlight the proposal to extend the $10,000 homebuyer tax credit to include the purchase of existing homes as well as new residences.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a press conference at a Towery Homes construction site to highlight the proposal to extend the $10,000 homebuyer tax credit to include the purchase of existing homes as well as new residences.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger takes a moment to talk to children who attended a press conference at a Towery Homes construction site to highlight the proposal to extend the $10,000 homebuyer tax credit to include the purchase of existing homes as well as new residences.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a press conference at a Towery Homes construction site to highlight the proposal to extend the $10,000 homebuyer tax credit to include the purchase of existing homes as well as new residences. Vickie Bradshaw, left, Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development and Bakersfield mayor Harvey Hall, stand along side the Governor.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped through Bakersfield Tuesday as part of a tour to promote a $500 million jobs program that among other things would extend and expand the $10,000 homebuyer tax credit.
The governor chose as a backdrop a single family home that Towery Homes is building on Scaffel Pike Street near Renfro Road in northwest Bakersfield.
The state stopped accepting applications for a previous $10,000 tax credit for new home purchases in July. As of August, the entire $100 million set aside for the program had been allocated.
Schwarzenegger wants to use another $200 million to extend the program and for the first time expand it to buyers of existing homes, too.
He defended doing so as the state faces a $20 billion deficit, saying there's a difference between spending money the state can't afford and investing in programs that will stimulate the economy and ultimately grow the tax base.
"Home construction is a very important component of our total package, our total economic puzzle," he said.
The construction of a new home doesn't just benefit homebuilders, Schwarzenegger said. It triggers a "chain reaction" of framers, roofers, cement pourers, steel workers and other subcontractors who hire employees, as well as the purchase of furnishings and home accessories, he said.
Because of the credit crunch, first time home buyers need help accessing the American dream, Schwarzenegger said.
The governor said today's real estate climate is far different than when he was buying for the first time, quipping, "When I went to buy my first house, you just asked the Kennedys for a loan."
It wasn't his only joke about his wife's wealthy, politically influential family.
Calling for Democrats and Republicans to work together in the gridlocked state legislature, he noted that "I sleep with a Democrat every night. It's doable."
State Sen. Roy Ashburn, Mayor Harvey Hall, real estate professionals and other supporters joined the news conference to support the governor's proposal. Among them was Daniel Curtin, director of the California Conference of Carpenters.
"This is a worldwide downturn, but if you remember, it started with the housing bubble, the bursting of the housing bubble," he said. "The economy will not totally turn around until the housing industry recovers."
Curtin estimated the unemployment rate among the state's carpenters was about 35 percent.
John Young, chairman of the California Building Industry Association, said 90 percent of his field's workforce in the state is unemployed, but the jobs package would help turn that around.
"The jobs don't go overseas," he said. "They stay right here because the real estate is here."
After the news conference, Matt Towery, owner of Towery Homes, said he didn't mind sharing the new home tax credit with buyers of existing homes.
"I'm grateful for anything I can get," he said. "But going to new construction gets to the jobs right away, and that's the issue."
The California Jobs Initiative, a package of several bills, would create or retain up to 100,000 jobs and provide job training for 140,000 individuals, the governor's office said.
It would be funded by a loan from the Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund, which has a surplus.
In addition to the homebuyer tax credit, the package would:
* Provide employers with a $3,000 reimbursement for hiring previously unemployed Californians,
* Streamline permitting for construction projects that have a completed environmental impact report,
* and exempt the purchase of green technology manufacturing equipment from sales tax.
