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Human Resources in Canada's Built Heritage Sector: Mapping the ...

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HUMAN RESOURCES IN CANADA’S BUILT HERITAGE SECTORTax IncentivesThe Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentive provides a tax credit of 20% of <strong>the</strong> amount spent on <strong>the</strong>certified rehabilitation of an historic property. Certification is adm<strong>in</strong>istered by <strong>the</strong> National Parks Service onbehalf of <strong>the</strong> Internal Revenue Service. The tax benefit is a credit aga<strong>in</strong>st corporate <strong>in</strong>comes taxes payable,ra<strong>the</strong>r than a tax deduction. There is no ceil<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>the</strong> aggregate amount of tax expenditures. The credit islimited to build<strong>in</strong>gs which are privately owned and which are <strong>in</strong>come-produc<strong>in</strong>g. To be eligible, propertiesmust be (a) <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> National Register, (b) rehabilitated <strong>in</strong> accordance with <strong>the</strong> Secretary of <strong>the</strong>Interior’s published standards, and (c) engage persons professionally qualified, as per <strong>the</strong> Secretary of <strong>the</strong>Interior’s published standards for preservation professionals, and (d) must <strong>in</strong>volve rehabilitation expendituresthat exceed <strong>the</strong> value of <strong>the</strong> pre-rehabilitated build<strong>in</strong>g. The tax <strong>in</strong>centive has been <strong>in</strong> place s<strong>in</strong>ce 1976. S<strong>in</strong>ce<strong>the</strong>n, <strong>the</strong> programme has supported rehabilitation of more than 32,000 historic properties. This is almost halfof <strong>the</strong> properties <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> National Register. The National Parks Service estimates that s<strong>in</strong>ce 1976, <strong>the</strong><strong>in</strong>centive has supported more than $33 billion <strong>in</strong> private sector spend<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>the</strong> rehabilitation of historicstructures. In recent years, private sector <strong>in</strong>vestment spend<strong>in</strong>g supported by <strong>the</strong> tax credit has been approximately$3 billion annually. This implies roughly $600 million <strong>in</strong> annual tax expenditures. 12Federal tax credits are mirrored <strong>in</strong> 18 states (as of 2004) which provide credits aga<strong>in</strong>st state <strong>in</strong>come taxrang<strong>in</strong>g from 20-50% of <strong>the</strong> value of eligible restoration expenditures.Professional Occupational StandardsThe 1980 Amendments to <strong>the</strong> National Historic Preservation Act affirmed <strong>the</strong> previous regulatoryrequirement for professionally qualified staff. In 1982, this authority led to <strong>the</strong> development by <strong>the</strong>National Park Service of <strong>the</strong> Secretary of <strong>the</strong> Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards. The Standardsorig<strong>in</strong>ally applied to 5 discipl<strong>in</strong>es. This was subsequently expanded to 12 <strong>in</strong> 1992. The discipl<strong>in</strong>es currentlycovered by <strong>the</strong> Professional Qualification Standards are:1. Archaeology (Prehistoric and Historic),2. Architectural History,3. Conservation,4. Cultural Anthropology,5. Curation,6. Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g,7. Folklore,8. Historic Architecture,9. Historic Landscape Architecture,10. Historic Preservation,11. Historic Preservation Plann<strong>in</strong>g, and12. History.12 This contrasts with $10 million available annually under Canada’s Commercial <strong>Heritage</strong> Properties Incentive Fund.The usual ratio for compar<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> US to Canada is 10:1. On this basis, <strong>the</strong> US tax credit system represents f<strong>in</strong>ancialsupport for private <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> heritage properties that is approximately 6 times that of CHPIF.28©CULTURAL HUMAN RESOURCES COUNCIL

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