They're almost gone.
The California Franchise Tax Board announced this morning it will pull the plug on its fax machine at midnight tonight, accepting no more applications for a $10,000 tax credit for buyers of new unoccupied homes in California.
Early Wednesday, the FTB said it has received 11,925 applications for the popular tax credit - 75 short of its 12,000-application limit.
The state tax agency said last month it would take 2,000 extra applications for the credit because many received are duplicates, invalid or incomplete.
The tax credit program, launched March 1 to move statewide home builders' excess, unsold inventory, proved more popular than expected. The FTB said it has already issued 4,808 certificates for nearly $45 million worth of credits. Officials expect to process and award all the credits by the end of August.
Home builders have shifted their focus to efforts to add $200 million more to the original $100 million allocation. But that's proved more difficult than expected in a rancorous budget climate. Some economists have criticized further allocations as a stimulus for home building when the state's larger problem, they argue, is an excess of unsold existing homes.
The California Building Industry Association, a trade group for residential builders and suppliers, maintains that each $10,000 tax credit adds $16,000 to state government revenues and $3,000 to a local government because of the economic activity generated.
Call The Bee's Jim Wasserman, (916) 321-1102. Read his blog on real estate, Home Front, at www.sacbee.com/blogs.
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