RALEIGH - State Senate Leader Phil Berger says he stands by his position against bringing back the state's tax credit for historic preservation. Berger says he opposes based on what he says was the idea behind the 2013 state tax reform.

"If we can lower the rates, that would benefit everybody and you wouldn't have a situation where some particular people got certain benefits for certain things," Berger says.

The tax credit expired in December and Berger, who was speaking to the League of Municipalities' annual Town Hall meeting, says other tax credits are already in place.

"One thing to keep in mind is there still is a federal tax credit for those rehab projects," Berger says.

Berger says he has an alternative idea to rehabilitate buildings.

"What we are looking at is trying to work a grant program of some sort that would provide certain grants," he says. "We'd do it through the appropriations process as opposed to doing it through the tax process."

Berger compares this grant idea to another state policy.

"On the film tax credits, it's the same philosophy," he says. "We wanted to move from a tax credit way of dealing with those issues into some sort of grant program."

Gov. Pat McCrory, who was also at the Town Hall meeting, brings back the historic preservation tax credit in his budget proposal.