Lawmakers Call for Treasury Probe of Opportunity Zone Implementation
“It was not the intent of Congress for this tax incentive to be used to enrich political supporters or personal friends of senior administration officials, as recent reports indicate.”
WASHINGTON, DC—A group of US lawmakers, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, are calling for a review of all “certified opportunity zones for eligibility requirement conformance” following multiple media reports of possible wrongdoing by senior administration officials in implementing the 2017 tax incentive program.
Senator Booker, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President, along with U. S. Reps. Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) and Ron Kind (D-WI) sent a letter last week to Department of Treasury Inspector General Eric Thorson calling for an investigation into the implementation of the Opportunity Zones program and demanding Treasury and White House officials to turn over all relevant communication to enforcement agencies and legislators about the program.
“We urge the Inspector General to do a complete review of all Treasury Department certified Opportunity Zones for eligibility requirement conformance and provide details on actions taken by agency officials not in compliance with the Opportunity Zones guidelines,” the lawmakers wrote.
The request for an investigation of the implementation of Opportunity Zones follows a number of media reports that have alleged possible wrongdoing by senior administration officials in implementing the 2017 tax incentive program, including a recent report in the New York Times.
In their letter to the Treasury Inspector General, the lawmakers stated, “It was not the intent of Congress for this tax incentive to be used to enrich political supporters or personal friends of senior administration officials, as recent reports indicate.”
Sen. Booker and Rep. Scott originally introduced the Investing in Opportunity Act in April 2016. A provision based on the bill was wrapped into the 2017 GOP tax bill, however, critical reporting requirements that were included in Booker and Scott’s original bill were removed from the final measure that became law in December 2017.
Sen. Booker has repeatedly pushed to restore these safeguards, including authoring a bipartisan bill that would restore the removed safeguards with Sens. Scott, Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Todd Young (R-IL) earlier this year. Booker also wrote to the Treasury earlier this month and in January urging it to adopt stronger reporting requirements for investors using the tax incentive.