For three decades, I have worked as a real estate developer in Mississippi, focusing on the restoration of historic properties. My company, Renovations of Mississippi, Inc., is based out of Columbus, and my motto is “Rebuilding Mississippi’s Heritage.”
Over the past 30 years, I have used Federal and State Historic Preservation Tax Credits on nearly all of mine and my clients’ projects. Mississippi has so many small towns that have great buildings that need to be revived. Most projects that I help others with have to take advantage of these tax incentives or they would not even start.
Some of my projects include the Hattiesburg High School, The Federal Building in Tupelo, the Stone Building in Columbus, the Delta Democrat in Greenville, Scranton’s Restaurant, Oddfellows Building, and the City Centre in Pascagoula. These are just a few projects that are in progress, all of which are Historic Tax Credit projects. Simply put, these and other projects that I have worked on in the past would not have happened if the State Historic Tax Credits were not available.
Recently, when the State met its cap on the allotted tax credits for historic preservation projects, several projects were delayed for many months until our legislators fixed the cap and came back to the table with an even better bill to serve the people of Mississippi. It is so important that we continue to support the State Historic Tax Credit program.
With the proposed elimination of the State Income Tax in the current session, we need to make sure that the State Historic Tax Credits will continue to be there for many more projects in the future. Thankfully, HB 531-The Mississippi Tax Freedom Act of 2022, preserves the State Historic Tax Credit by creating a grant program that ensures that taxpayers do not lose access to this vital historic preservation incentive.
I want to thank our legislators for their hard work this legislative session. As a small business owner and real estate developer, I support the HB 531 that is being proposed to eliminate the State Income Tax, while keeping the State Historic Preservation Tax Credit program intact.
Chris Chain, Columbus
