Speaker Ryan Press Office https://spkrryan.us/2w2orpQ
Theres a lot of good news when it comes tax reformlike how its helping families driving momentum and boosting small businesses nationwide. But theres one key facet of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that you may not have heard as much about: Opportunity Zonessomething Speaker Ryan has long fought for to reduce poverty and develop communities.
What are Opportunity Zones? In laymans terms they are just what their name impliesareas of the country in need of economic opportunity. By definition theyre distressed communities identified by the states that qualify for private investment in exchange for tax incentives for said investors.
As the speaker recalled on The Hugh Hewitt Show recently When I was a young staffer working for Jack Kemp we worked on this idea called Enterprise Zones to have zero capital gains taxes on investments in poor areas. That was a dream of Jacks his entire career. Ive worked on it my entire career." He also discussed this long sought-after win on Squawk Box: Opportunity zones are now law of the land. So the critical component of our poverty fighting agenda thats now the law of the land."
The law of the land indeed. Following enactment as part of the tax bill these zones are now being set up around the country. This month the Treasury Department and the IRS announced the first round of Opportunity Zone designations for 18 states including the speakers own stomping grounds of Wisconsin. Since that announcement Opportunity Zones have been added in six additional states and U.S. territories.
Make no mistake: We are seeing great economic turnaround thanks to tax reformbut pockets of the country remain in desperate need of revitalization. As the New York Times put it In huge swaths of the country the economic recovery has yet to arrive." A 2017 study found that 52.3 million Americans live in economically distressed communities" or low-income areas that qualify as designated by the Census. Thats a lot of untapped potential left on the sidelines simply because of their zip code.
Enter Opportunity Zones which provide a tax incentive for investors to pour capital into these areas to help stimulate long-term growth. This new private investment will support a wide range of development activitieslike entrepreneurship charter schools or job trainingwhich in turn will lead to boosted economic growth and job creation.
As Speaker Ryan said last week better empowering the individual will allow more Americans to realize their own independenceand the economic and social benefits that come along with it." By setting up Opportunity Zones in distressed communities nationwide more people will be able to do just that.
