Trump Tax Break That Benefited the Rich Is Being Investigated
Category: News & Politics
Via: tessylo • 6 years ago • 61 commentsBy: Jesse Drucker, The New York Times
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The New York Times
Trump Tax Break That Benefited the Rich Is Being Investigated
A construction worker at the sight of a parking garage next to the Preston, a luxury apartment development in a new opportunity zone in Houston, Aug. 14, 2019. (Brandon Thibodeaux/The New York Times)
A federal tax break meant to help poor communities that became a windfall for wealthy investors is being investigated by the Treasury Department, the agency’s deputy inspector general said Wednesday.
The inquiry is being conducted at the request of three Democratic lawmakers: Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri and Rep. Ron Kind of Wisconsin.
The lawmakers made their request after articles in The New York Times and ProPublica raised questions about the opportunity zone tax break.
The legislation, part of the 2017 tax overhaul, is supposed to encourage new investment in poor neighborhoods, leading to new housing, businesses and jobs. However, wealthy investors are piling into the initiative, including developers with ties to the Trump administration.
Last year, The Times reported how money eligible for the tax break — supported by both Democrats and Republicans — was going to luxury projects in affluent neighborhoods, including deals that were underway long before the tax break took effect.
In October, The Times described how financier Michael Milken stood to benefit from a move the Treasury Department made over the objections of some agency officials to permit a census tract in Nevada to qualify for the opportunity zone tax break. Milken is a longtime friend of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s.
“Despite these warnings from staff, Secretary Mnuchin instructed Treasury officials to allow the otherwise ineligible tract to qualify for the incentive,” the lawmakers wrote in seeking the inquiry. “If the Treasury Department provided a stamp of approval as a political favor, it is not only unacceptable, but in complete violation of the congressional intent of the Opportunity Zones.”
The Treasury’s internal watchdog expects “to complete our work and respond to the congressional requesters in early spring,” Rich Delmar, the department’s deputy inspector general, said in a statement.
Other potential beneficiaries of the opportunity zone tax break, The Times reported last year, were billionaire financiers like Leon Cooperman; Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor; Richard LeFrak, a New York real estate titan who is close to the president; and the family of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.
The initiative allows people to sell stocks or other investments and delay capital gains taxes for years — as long as they put the proceeds into projects in federally certified opportunity zones. Investors can avoid federal taxes on any profits from those projects.
In late December, the administration finished the program’s regulations. Officials said the regulations gave investors more clarity and flexibility on how to deploy their money, and push more funds into designated areas.
NBC News earlier reported the news of the inquiry.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times .
© 2020 The New York Times Company
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To the above thread, stop with the personal jabs and get back on topic. Only warning.
My Bronx neighborhood has been designated an official opportunity zone which has resulted in our property values here increasing by 118% in 2019. Middle class homes and rental properties have mostly all been bought up by investors who are either demolishing older properties to build high dollar rentals which nobody from this neighborhood could afford or are converting what were divided multi-family homes into multimillion dollar personal properties. This is causing much anger today as long-term residents are being priced out of the market. Yes, what is good for some is a tragedy for others. I purchased here because it was affordable for me and because I appreciated what was a very diverse tradional working class neighborhood which was semi-unique in NYC. In just three years this part of NYC has mostly changed hands completely changing the, um, complexion of this part of the city. It all happened very quickly and it is called gentrification.
Any pretence these tax breaks would result in more housing for working class New Yorkers is preposterous. I could not even afford to buy here anymore. Maybe I should sell out too before we become just another trendy haven for hedge fund manager and spoiled hipsters...like Brooklyn.
As an example, this 1000 sq ft single family home would have been less than half as much just two years ago. Now it is a half million $. 1146 E 213th St in Williamsbridge, Bronx, NY 10469 - $474,900 | -- bd • -- ba
See details at