The Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA)1 was sponsored by Representative Richard Gephardt (D- MO) and Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ)2 and signed into law on October 22, 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.3 The TRA provides a wealth of topics on which to write and analyze. Since its enactment the Tax Reform Act of 1986 has impacted the U.S. and international tax law in many ways. The Tax Reform Act if 1986 has been widely recognized as a sweeping reform effecting international taxation laws on a global scale and in the manner of a how financial transactions, real property investment and wealth management have been treated and organized. As the U.S. political and economic interests realized as occurred in the U.S. recession of 2008 many of the economic conditions and consequences were parallel in the present which were existing preceding economic environment during the reform debates surrounding the enactment of The Tax Reform Act of 1986. This paper will examine the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and its impact on the real estate economy in the U.S. The central research design will be the question what was the intended impact contemplated by the Congress in the task of undergoing a systematic change in the Tax Code. An exploration of the intended impact is central and the converse question of what are the unintended consequences of TRA as a change to the prior-law tax code in the U.S. will be reviewed and then examined. In examining the TRA for the purpose of this research a resulting set of conclusions and recommendations will be drawn. TRA and its impact on the real estate industry having been explored in previous research adequately the present research approach is a unique approach. The present research will be centered upon the engine that has driven multi- family real estate development by specific provisions enacted in The Tax Reform Act of 1986. The Tax Code, regulations, rulings and case law have developed over the 28 years since TRA's enactment in 1986. Statutory, judicial, and administrative rulings related to the Low Income Housing Credit, a new provision in the Code enacted by TRA86 will be explored during the course of the research and recommendations for further research will be asserted.