<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">They are sitting on at least $470 billion in handouts and billions in </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">income collectively.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">The COVID-19 crisis has both exposed and exacerbated racial and wealth </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">inequality in the United States.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">As unemployment skyrockets and tens of millions of Americans struggle </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">with a sudden loss of income, many will be unable to pay rents or </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">mortgages, and face eviction or foreclosure, and possible homelessness. </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Latinx and Black workers have been hit hardest by job losses; recent </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">figures show the Latinx unemployment rate at 18.9%, and the Black </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">unemployment rate at 16.7%, compared to a 14.2% for white Americans.1 </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">These job losses, in addition to historic housing segregation and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">environmental racism, have contributed to greater risk from COVID-19 for </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">communities of color.2</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">While so many of us struggle to survive, some of the richest </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">billionaires in the world dominate the residential real estate industry </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">in the United States. These corporate landlords are companies owned by </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">extremely wealthy individuals, Wall Street entities like private equity </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">firms and hedge funds, and institutional investors.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Corporate landlords include many well-known entities like Kushner </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Companies, Mosser Capital, Equity Residential, Related, Essex, Starwood </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Capital, CBRE, Blackstone, and Irvine Company. Across the country, from </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">New York and California to Arizona, Georgia, and Florida, these </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">companies own large apartment complexes, office buildings, hotels, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">single-family homes, and a significant chunk of our mortgage debt.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Corporate landlords do not pay their fair share in taxes at the local, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">state, or federal level. Here’s why: for decades, they have successfully </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">lobbied City Halls, state legislatures, and Congress to put their needs </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">first, to create loopholes, special statuses, corporate welfare </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">programs, and other schemes to avoid taxes and regulation and boost </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">their profits.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Amid the current crisis, some of these obscenely wealthy companies and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">individuals, many of whom profited immensely during the Great Recession, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">are lobbying aggressively for taxpayer-funded assistance programs and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">making plans to exploit the pain of so many to grow even wealthier.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">It’s time to make them pay</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">With millions of tenants, homeowners, and small property owners </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">struggling to survive during the COVID19 pandemic, Congress and state </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">governments should require corporate landlords to pay for the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">cancellation of rent, mortgages, and utilities, and to provide financial </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">relief to small property owners facing foreclosure.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">These corporations are sitting on billions of dollars and will keep </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">getting richer through tax breaks and giveaways, including in the most </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">recent stimulus packages, as we show below. They can easily afford to </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">cancel monthly housing-related expenses and debts for millions of </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Americans whose jobs and incomes have been destroyed by COVID-19. Making </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">them pay will help stabilize the housing market, the national economy, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and communities across the country.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">This is the fairest and most pragmatic way to address the financial </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">crisis that so many households face right now.3 It’s likely that many </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Americans will have no ability to pay rent, mortgages, and utilities for </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who can’t afford </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">housing-related costs today won’t be able to afford them for the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">foreseeable future.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Well before the COVID-19 crisis hit, many American households, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">especially households of color, ere spending huge proportions of their </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">income on housing, leaving little left over for other necessities, and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">nothing for savings. For example, one in four Black households spent </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">more than half their income on housing (compared to one in ten white </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">households).4 Many cities were already experiencing housing </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">affordability crises, with renters and owners struggling to pay rents </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and mortgages and homelessness skyrocketing, while corporate landlords </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and lenders prospered.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">The pandemic threatens to turn the housing affordability crisis into a </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">national catastrophe.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">That’s why the full cancellation of housing-related expenses and debt is </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">so important. Everyone is told to stay home to “flatten the curve” but </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">low-income Americans without resources to pay for housing can’t afford </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">to do that unless their rent, mortgages, and utilities are canceled. And </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">if low income and unemployed people lose their homes to eviction or </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">foreclosure, they will not be able to “stay home” at all.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Corporate landlords must provide the relief millions need</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Extending current moratoriums on evictions is not enough. Those </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">moratoriums do not alleviate the growing financial burden of unpaid </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">rent, mortgage, utility, and other housing-related bills that will come </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">due in the near future. Millions of Americans won’t be able to pay </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">months of housing expenses after eviction moratoriums expire and the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">economy reopens. That’s the harsh reality.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Congress and state governments must do more to help eliminate those </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">expenses. They must make corporate landlords pay for the cancellation of </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">all housing-related expenses incurred during this pandemic, so </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">households—and the economy more generally—can begin to recover </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">financially. That’s the real policy response and solution to the current </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">crisis. Anything short of full cancellation will trigger mass evictions </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and an explosion in predatory debt, both of which hit communities of </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">color hardest before COVID-19, and will only be compounded.5 And wealthy </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">corporate landlords can afford it.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Anything short of full cancellation will trigger mass evictions and an </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">explosion in predatory debt</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Over 200,000 in our communities are taking action to demand what they </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">need</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">In recent weeks, tenants and homeowners have taken to the streets, Zoom, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and social media to call for the cancellation of rent, mortgages, and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">utilities. Indeed, organizers identified more than 200,000 people who </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">engaged in rent strikes on May 1 across the country, from California to </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">New York, to pressure elected officials to #CancelRent. In a strong, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">unified voice, they said: We Strike Together. Many of these rent strikes </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">were organized and led by low-income people of color fighting for their </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">lives and communities.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Looking ahead to June, struggling tenants, homeowners, small property </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">owners, and communities will again take action. Expect to hear a clear, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">resounding message directed at corporate landlords: #MakeThemPay for the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">cancellation of the housing expenses and debts we cannot afford to pay </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Overview of Federal Handouts and Giveaways to Corporate Landlords</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">The largest corporate landlords have siphoned money out of public </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">budgets at all levels of government and are using COVID-19 as an </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">opportunity to expand their riches even further.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""> CARES Act gives $170 billion in immediate tax benefits to real </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">estate and millionairesThe CARES Act permits all businesses’ losses to </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">be carried back — which allows immediate tax refunds — for five years </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">from 2018, 2019, and 2020.6 Losses carried back to years before 2018 </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">will generate refunds of already paid income taxes at the older, higher </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">rates— previously 35% maximum for corporations (compared to current 21%) </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and 39.6% maximum for individuals (37% today).7The Congressional Joint </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimates that owners of pass-through </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">businesses will receive $170 billion in tax benefits over the next 10 </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">years.8 For 2020, the JCT estimates that roughly 43,000 taxpayers with </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">at least $1 million in annual income will reap 82% of the benefits, with </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">an average tax cut of more than $1.6 million.9 Which millionaires will </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">come out on top? According to the Tax Policy Center, the key groups </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">include real estate professionals and hedge fund investors, including </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">developers10—in other words, corporate landlords.11</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""> 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act gave nearly $50 billion to real estateThe </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) allowed real estate investors to deduct 20% </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">of pass-through business income to lower the effective tax rate on </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">income if they have sufficient real estate assets—this benefits real </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">estate companies as well as those investing in Real Estate Investment </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Trusts (REITs). Experts estimate this is worth $29 billion over the next </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">10 years.12</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""> ‘Millionaires will reap 82% of the benefits, with an average tax cut </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">of more than $1.6 million’</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">The TCJA created “opportunity zones”—zip codes where one can invest </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">capital gains in real estate and businesses through designated </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">opportunity funds and receive huge tax breaks. The tax cut was </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">purportedly aimed at fostering economic rejuvenation of lower-income </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">areas but was so poorly designed and implemented that it provides tax </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">breaks for developments that were already underway or in rapidly </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">gentrifying areas, including corporate landlords like Related Companies </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and Stephen Ross.13 Real estate firms and developers are raising up to </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">$5 billion for each opportunity fund14 and the JCT estimates opportunity </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">zones will cost $3.5 billion a year from 2019 through 2022, for a total </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">of $14 billion over those 4 years.15</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">The TJCA also allowed real estate investors to deduct all of their </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">interest payments on buildings from their income while other large </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">businesses could only deduct 30% of their interest payments. Experts </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">estimate this tax break is worth $16 billion over the next 10 years.16</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""> Pre-2017 the federal tax code already included real estate industry </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">tax benefits that are worth nearly $250B over the next 10 yearsReal </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">estate investors have a special loophole, “like-kind exchanges,” to </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">avoid paying capital gains taxes on profits from the sale of assets as </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">long as these profits were reinvested in comparable assets. Essentially, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">profits from the sale of a building can be used to buy another building </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">without paying any taxes. Experts believe this tax break is worth </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">almost $134 billion over the next 10 years.17In 1986, tax reform </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">prohibited businesses from investing in a business that generated losses </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">in order to reduce their income for tax purposes. But in 1993, the real </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">estate industry lobbied to exempt rental income from these passive loss </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">rules, creating a tax benefit for these “money-losing” real estate </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">investments. The Treasury estimates this tax break is worth $79 billion </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">over 10 years.18</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""> Businesses can depreciate assets that lose value over time as the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">assets age, reflecting the declining value of things like machinery or </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">vehicles. Real estate investors can depreciate their assets and reduce </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">their taxes even though real estate values often rise over time, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">especially in more expensive or rising markets, AND this depreciation is </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">counted against the value of the property when it is sold, reducing the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">capital gains taxes. The JCT estimates rental and other real estate at </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">$21 billion over 5 years.19</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""> Preferential Tax StatusNearly all real estate operations are run </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">through limited liability corporations (LLCs).20 With a standard </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">corporate structure, the government levies taxes twice—on the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">corporation’s profits and on employees’ incomes. LLCs are allowed to </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">pass profits to the owners who then pay income taxes on the money, while </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">the corporation does not pay any taxes on the money at all.21Another </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">special status, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), were created in </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">the 1980s to encourage investment in real estate. REITs, like LLCs, are </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">treated as pass-through entities for tax purposes, which means they pay </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">no corporate taxes in exchange for playing 90% of their taxable income </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">to shareholders as dividends.22 As described above, the TCJA also </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">allowed those who do have to pay tax on this “income” to deduct 20%.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">State and Local Giveaways to Corporate Landlords</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""> State Conformity to Federal Taxes Often Maximizes Benefits for </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Billions MoreBecause of the linkages between state and federal tax </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">codes, many of these tax breaks have already been or will be enacted at </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">the state level as well. For example, the Center for Budget and Policy </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Priorities (CBPP) describes how, because nearly all states piggyback on </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">the federal tax code’s definition of “gross income,” the opportunity </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">zone tax breaks outlined above will automatically flow through to state </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">individual and corporate income taxes unless states proactively </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">“decouple” their law from these provisions.23 Corporate landlords and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">real estate investors are likely to see billions more at the state level </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">from the giveaways described above, as well as others they have lobbied </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">to create in each state.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""> Local Tax Break Schemes for DevelopmentCorporate landlords </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">frequently also benefit from Tax Increment Financing (TIF), Payment in </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), bonding, and other schemes at the municipal and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">local level connected both to single projects and broader development </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">work. One example of this is Related Companies’ Hudson Yards in New York </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">City, where research shows that Related’s project cost NYC $2.2 billion, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">as a combination of a PILOT, bonding, property tax abatement and other </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">approaches; this includes over $350 million in property tax breaks for </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">residential developers.24</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">The tax breaks and schemes described above are just the tip of the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">iceberg in terms of the myriad ways that corporate landlords, real </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">estate investors, private equity and financial actors are and will </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">continue to profit off the rental housing market in the U.S. Debt and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">mortgages are other key areas the industry exploits, including through </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">government-financed agencies and programs, to maximize profit margins.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Using COVID-19 as an Opportunity to Seek Billions More in Tax Breaks and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Giveaways for Corporate Landlords</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">On top of these many handouts, the National Multifamily Housing Council </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and National Apartment Association are using COVID-19 as an opportunity </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">to ask for even more support, financial and otherwise. The Association </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and Council, which corporate landlords dominate, is pushing elected </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">officials to pass their wish-list of measures, including taxpayer-funded </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">rental assistance, narrowing the already limited eviction moratorium </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">criteria, expanding Payment Protection Program eligibility to all </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">multifamily businesses, including the largest corporate landlords, and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">increasing tax relief for all multifamily residential businesses, which </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">could go to corporate landlords that clearly don’t need it.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Their pitch also calls for expanding low-income housing tax credits, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">creating middle-income housing tax credits, increasing the breadth of </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">opportunity zones, and enacting legislation to clear regulatory barriers </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">for construction of more multi-family housing irrespective of cost. All </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">of these would be immensely lucrative for the industry overall and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">corporate landlords in particular. They are examples of the broken </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">“trickle-down” housing models that enrich those dominating residential </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">real estate while exploiting our racialized housing system, hurting </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">workers and families, and putting communities at risk across the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">country.25</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Examples of Wealthy Corporate Landlords Who Should Be Made to Pay</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Individual leaders and founders of many corporate landlord companies </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">have amassed extravagant wealth. Figure 1 lists examples of the types of </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">companies, their leadership and the money they are making. Many of these </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">companies are part of larger umbrella organizations that move hundreds </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">of billions across multiple real estate subsectors, as well as other </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">industries, and have enormous resources at their disposal. While these </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">are some of the largest companies, there are hundreds, if not thousands, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">built in this same model that are active in and profiting off of the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">residential housing market.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">How Corporate Landlords Are Planning to Capitalize on COVID-19</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Corporate landlords amassed enormous fortunes during the Great Recession </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">and are now expressing excitement about the potential for profiteering </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">post-pandemic. The president of a division of Fortress Investment Group </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">has said of the coming pain, “It’s kind of exciting times. I</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">mean, this is what you live for.”26 These landlords certainly have the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">resources to exploit this new crisis—according to the Wall Street </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Journal, at the end of December 2019, real estate investment funds had </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">$142 billion ready to spend on distressed and opportunistic real estate </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">investments.27</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">The Blackstone Group, Inc., Brookfield Asset Management and Starwood </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Capital Group are “sitting on billions of dollars in cash and capital </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">commitments they have raised from pensions, sovereign wealth funds and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">other big institutions” as the industry eyes hotels, retail properties, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">mortgage-backed securities, and defaulting borrowers.46 On a 2020 Q1 </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Earnings call, Starwood Capital CEO Barry Stenlicht was quoted as saying </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">“when it’s really ugly, it’s a good time to invest.”47 Blackstone raised </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">the largest commercial real estate fund ever in September with $20.5 </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">billion, and as of December 2019 Brookfield held $15 billion.48</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">People within the industry are saying “many [real estate investors] have </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">been waiting for this for a decade.”49 The Kushner family also recently </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">announced they are putting together a fund through Cadre, their real </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">estate investment vehicle, to take advantage of “opportunities” during </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">the pandemic.50 While Jared Kushner himself formally divested from the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">fund in February of 2020, it’s clear that a prominent corporate landlord </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">with very close ties to the White House is gearing up to profit from the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">crisis and its effect on the real estate market.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Making Corporate Landlords Pay Will Help Millions of Struggling Tenants, </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">Homeowners, and Small Property Owners</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">The U.S. real estate industry is led by some of the richest, most </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">powerful people in the world. They have profited handsomely from the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">last foreclosure crisis, the commodification of housing, and decades of </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">racist housing policy, while actively lobbying to avoid paying their </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">fair share in taxes for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">what we already knew: Corporate landlords’ bill is long past due. It’s </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">time to make them pay for the cancellation of rent, mortgages, and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">utilities for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Making them pay </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">will help millions of tenants, homeowners, and struggling property </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">owners who are struggling to survive. “When it’s really ugly, it’s a </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">good time to invest.” Blackstone raised the largest commercial real </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">estate fund ever in September with $20.5 billion, and as of December </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">2019 Brookfield held $15 billion.48</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">People within the industry are saying “many [real estate investors] have </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">been waiting for this for a decade.”49 The Kushner family also recently </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">announced they are putting together a fund through Cadre, their real </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">estate investment vehicle, to take advantage of “opportunities” during </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">the pandemic.50 While Jared Kushner himself formally divested from the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">fund in February of 2020, it’s clear that a prominent corporate landlord </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">with very close ties to the White House is gearing up to profit from the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">crisis and its effect on the real estate market.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">The U.S. real estate industry is led by some of the richest, most </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">powerful people in the world. They have profited handsomely from the </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">last foreclosure crisis, the commodification of housing, and decades of </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">racist housing policy, while actively lobbying to avoid paying their </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">fair share in taxes for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">what we already knew: Corporate landlords’ bill is long past due. It’s </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">time to make them pay for the cancellation of rent, mortgages, and </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">utilities for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Making them pay </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">will help millions of tenants, homeowners, and struggling property </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">owners who are struggling to survive.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""><a href="https://popularresistance.org/corporate-landlords-should-cancel-rent-mortgages-and-utlities-during-covid-19/" style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class="">https://popularresistance.org/corporate-landlords-should-cancel-rent-mortgages-and-utlities-during-covid-19/</a><br style="font-family: Helvetica-Light;" class=""></body></html>