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Builders Hope for Tariff Reprieve

LOS ANGELES-Apartment developers here and across the US hope Bush Administration or Congress will intervene before new tax is slapped on Canadian lumber next week. The 19% increase is expected to be followed by an even bigger hike later this year.

By David W. Myers | Updated on August 13, 2001

LOS ANGELES-Thousands of multifamily builders are hoping for a miracle today, after the Bush Administration announced plans to support a measure pushed by Democrats and Republicans alike that would slap stiff tariffs on lumber that’s imported from Canada even though it may exacerbate the nation’s affordable-housing crisis.

The Bush Administration announced the 19.3-percent tariff on Canadian softwood lumber on Friday, saying that Canada has unfairly been subsidizing its logging companies for years. Bush has been under pressure from Democrats in log-producing states, and from some Republicans, to levy the new import taxes in an effort to save logging jobs in the US.

Most apartment and single-family builders hate the idea of levying new import taxes on Canadian lumber, saying it will undoubtedly force the cost of building a home higher. Researchers at the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C., say the 19.3% tax increase will add about $1,000 to the construction cost of each new housing unit.

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