New Homestead Act of 2005

Bill: 109-s-675
Sponsor: Sen. Dorgan, Byron L. [D-ND]
Introduced: 2005-03-17 in the Senate
Policy area: Housing and Community Development
Subjects: Agricultural cooperatives
Agricultural credit
Agriculture and Food
Bank accounts
Capital gains tax
Capital investments
Catastrophic health insurance
College costs
Commerce
Construction costs
Consumer cooperatives
Cost of living adjustments
County politics and government
Depreciation and amortization
Earned income tax credit
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Electrification
Energy
Entrepreneurs
Excise tax
Federal aid to education
Federally-guaranteed loans
Finance and Financial Sector
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Health
Higher education
Home ownership
Housing finance
Income tax
Indexing (Economic policy)
Infrastructure
Infrastructure (Economics)
Internal migration
Investment tax credit
Job creation
Labor and Employment
Law
Medical economics
Minimum tax
Nonprofit organizations
Residence requirements
Rural economic development
Rural education
Rural housing
Saving and investment
Savings and loan associations
Scholarships
Securities
Small business
Small towns
Social Welfare
Student loan funds
Tax credits
Tax deductions
Tax exclusion
Tax exemption
Tax penalties
Tax returns
Tax-exempt organizations
Trusts and trustees
Urban affairs
Venture capital
Vocational and technical education

Summary:
action_date: 2005-03-17
text: New Homestead Act of 2005 - Directs the Secretary of Education to repay a specified percentage (up to $2,000 per year) of certain education loans to an individual who completes a degree and both resides and is employed for at least five years in an area outside a metropolitan statistical area which for 20 years has a net out-migration of inhabitants of at least ten percent of the county population (qualifying county). 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a: (1) tax credit for the lesser of $5,000 or ten percent of the purchase price of a principal residence in a qualifying county; and (2) capital loss deduction with respect to a sale or exchange of a principal residence in a qualifying county. 
Provides for the creation of tax-exempt individual homestead accounts, funded by individual cash contributions and matching Federal contributions according to a specified formula, whose tax-free distributions after five years are used by residents of qualifying counties for qualified higher education or medical expenses, first-time homebuyer or business capitalization costs, or rollovers. 
Establishes a rural investment tax credit of 70 percent of the present value of new buildings (including rehabilitation projects) or 30 percent of the present value of existing buildings. 
Establishes a qualified rural small business investment credit of 30 percent of expenditures for starting or expanding a business, including costs for capital, plant and equipment, inventory expenses, and wages, but not including interest costs. 
Provides for accelerated depreciation of business property in rural investment projects. 
New Homestead Venture Capital Fund Act - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to establish the New Homestead Venture Capital Fund (Fund), owned by private investors, to generate and provide equity capital to rural businesses in qualifying counties. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to provide funding and guarantees for private investors in the Fund.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-03-17
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2005-03-17
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3056)
action_date: 2005-03-17
text: Introduced in Senate