SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : Bernson Urges Tax Breaks to Speed Quake Recovery
Looking for new ways to hasten the quake recovery, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson urged state lawmakers this week to provide tax incentives for investors who put money into quake-damaged neighborhoods.
Bernson, who represents the northwestern San Fernando Valley, pitched the idea to Los Angeles-based federal and state lawmakers and their representatives who attended a meeting of the City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Earthquake Recovery.
Although some lawmakers were receptive to the tax incentive idea, they doubted it could be enacted in the current legislative session, which ends Aug. 31. The next session begins in January, 1995.
Under Bernson’s proposal, investors in disaster zones statewide could depreciate damaged property over seven years instead of the normal 30 years, receive a 20% one-time tax credit on the purchase price of any damaged property and get a 100% tax write-off on the cost of all repairs to damaged property.
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