Las Vegas Realtors of Prudential Americana Seeks Credit for Nevada
Forrest Barbee, a Las Vegas Realtor for Prudential Americana Group and Director of
the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, believes that the free market
normally works best without government intervention but he can’t argue that a
tax-credit for first time home buyers is spurring home sales. And there is
evidence to support it.
The evidence comes from the Internal
Revenue Service which reported that 20,222 Nevada first-time home buyers have
applied for the tax credit of up to $8,000 for the tax year 2008. According to
Barbee that is a third of all the sales of Las
Vegas homes for that one-year period. It certainly suggests that a lot of
people are taking advantage of this tax credit.
The General Accountability Office
emphasizes that Nevada has the largest number of taxpayers seeking the tax
credit, followed by Utah and Arizona. A small portion of the people counted by
the IRS bought a home this year and has filed amended returns to take advantage
of the more generous $8,000 tax credit.
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No one knows exactly how many first time
homebuyers took advantage of the tax credit this year but analysts say that the
number may be big enough to boost the state’s stagnant economy.
The deadline for the $8,000 tax credit for
buying a home is November 30, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is
pushing a bill that would extend the tax credit for another 6 months.