Today and tomorrow, President George W. Bush and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry respond to questions put to them by Realtor Magazine, the official journal of the million-member National Association of Realtors, and printed in the magazine's September issue. Earlier this week, the presidential candidates answered questions from the National Association of Home Builders.

Question: What will be your domestic policy priority going into 2005?

President Bush: Make tax relief permanent. That way, families and businesses can plan for the future with certainty, creating the conditions for risk-takers and entrepreneurs to invest, grow, and hire new workers.

Senator Kerry: Stop spiraling health care costs. Insurance premiums, out-of-pocket costs, co-payments and deductibles are out of control, burdening families and undermining our economy. We must cut costs and expand coverage. My plan includes saving employees up to $1,000 in premiums a year. Every American should be able to get the same health care as any member of Congress.

Question: What economic policies will help keep home sales strong without causing the market to overheat?

BUSH: Make the tax cuts permanent. That's critical to maintaining homeownership growth without overheating the market. Also, savings proposals I've put forward such as Lifetime Savings Accounts and Individual Development Accounts help people buy homes. In addition, home buying incentives such as the American Dream Downpayment Fund have helped to raise homeownership and minority homeownership rates by helping with downpayments, closing costs, and repairs. And increased funding for housing counseling is helping more families make smart financial decisions.

KERRY: Keep interest rates lower by restoring fiscal discipline within the federal government. I will cut the deficit in half in my first term by rolling back tax cuts for families making more than $200,000 and restraining the growth of federal spending. In addition, I will jump-start job growth with a New Jobs Tax Credit, enforce our trade agreements, bring down the spiraling cost of health care and education, and invest in the industries of the future.

Question: What can the federal government do to help working households of modest income obtain housing near their jobs?

BUSH: Increase the availability of affordable housing. To this end, I have proposed a $2.54 billion, five-year Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit. The credit to developers is for up to 50 percent of housing rehabilitation and construction costs, provided the new homes are offered to buyers with incomes of up to 80 percent of area median income. I've also taken steps to increase housing availability through the American Dream Downpayment Act, signed in 2003, that will help some 40,000 families a year with downpayment and closing cost assistance.

KERRY: I will emphasize a three-pronged approach: strengthening Federal Housing Administration single-family programs to get affordable mortgage financing into low- and moderate-income home buyers' hands, preserving existing affordable rental homes, and improving coordination among the local transportation and housing sectors.

Preservation is more cost-effective than building new housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has opened hundreds of thousands of state-financed affordable rental homes to possible "opt-outs," which means that hard-working and elderly families might be facing unaffordable rent increases or be forced to move. In many of these cases, the federal government could pay higher rent subsidies to prevent tenant displacement.

In emphasizing FHA, I will also push to create low-downpayment programs for teachers, firefighters, police officers and other municipal workers.

On transportation, better coordination of the use of transportation funds with the construction of affordable homes can lead to development along transportation corridors, reducing commuting times and road congestion, preserving open space, and creating housing opportunities.

Question: Municipalities, in an effort to generate more tax revenue, are increasingly using their powers of eminent domain to transfer property from one private owner to another for development of projects such as retail centers. Is this appropriate?

BUSH: I support the rights of state legislatures to pass laws restricting the use of eminent domain as they see fit, within the context of the constitutional protection of eminent domain as a power granted to local government.

KERRY: I support private property rights. I also believe the use of eminent domain by state and local governments is primarily a state and local matter. At the same time, we must take steps to alleviate the fiscal pressures on state and local governments, and I have proposed a new State Tax Relief and Education Fund that would provide $25 billion to help states balance their budgets, meet their homeland security needs, and avoid tax increases and the like.

Reprinted from the September 2004 issue of REALTOR Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS. Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.

Published: September 16, 2004

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