Senate Votes to Extend First Time Home Buyers Tax Creditby

This week, the Senate passed a bill that would extend the first time home buyers incentive program, as well as offering a different tax credit for existing homeowners.

The bill that was passed on Wednesday may give the first time homebuyers tax credit a second life, as it is currently set to expire on on December 01, 2009.

The Current 2009 tax credit, which does not need to be repaid, is only available to those who have not owned a home for at least three years and offers up to $8000 to those who qualify.

Under the new law, these benefits would not only be maintained, but also extended to those who have owned a home for five years or more. However, for existing homeowners, only $6500 would be available. Those buying a home would have until June to close on the home, but would have to have singed a sales agreement by April 2010.

In addition to addressing the housing market, the bill also includes provisions to federally fund unemployment benefits for an additional 20 weeks.

Of course, this bill has a long way to go before it becomes law, as it must still pass the House and then it must be signed by President Obama. This is also not the first bill aimed at extending the homeowners stimulus program, with a $15,000 tax credit for homeowners never gaining much momentum.

Before its passage in the Senate, Republicans had wanted to include a provision requiring that those on unemployment be checked using E-Verify, which is a an online service that checks immigration status, before receiving unemployment benefits. They also wanted the stimulus bill to include an amendment prohibiting Acorn from receiving federal aid.

Both of these requests were refuted by the Democratically held senate, but the bill still needs to be passed by the House, so there may still be more changes made to it.