The chairmen of the Congressional tax-writing committees, Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Representative Dave Camp (R-Mich.) kicked off their bipartisan tax reform tour on July 8 in St. Paul, MN, with a stop at Baldinger Bakery. Financing for this facility and equipment was made available by Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF) and the Port Authority, using the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC).

"Businesses depend on access to capital to succeed. Our 125-year-old family business is no different," said Steve Baldinger, President of Baldinger Bakery. "In 2010, we received the funds we needed to expand and continue producing goods and services in a cost-effective production environment with the help of the New Markets Tax Credit. We are incredibly thankful for the opportunity the credit afforded us, which also allowed us to stay in the city that has been our home for over a century and provide a living-wage to our 90+ employees."

Baldinger Bakery's new state-of-the-art, energy-efficient baking facility will employ 90 workers on the old Griffen Wheelworks site in East Saint Paul, a neighborhood with an unemployment rate nearly twice the national average. Building the new 144,854 square-foot facility employed 80 construction workers. The business also supports local women and minority-owned enterprises through the procurement of its raw materials.

The NMTC leverages billions of dollars in private investments in businesses and communities that, like Baldinger Bakery, probably would never receive injections of patient capital otherwise. In fact, a U.S. Government Accountability Office survey found 88 percent of NMTC investors would not have made their investments without this incentive.

In June, Senators Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced the New Markets Tax Credit Act of 2013 (S. 1133), to extend the Credit indefinitely and enhance its potential impact by increasing the annual NMTC allocation.