Opportunity Zones

[Estebonrober]

The billionaires own our governments, states have no chance in the current legal bribery scheme. Red states and blue states a like bow to their every whim. This is a tragedy on a massive scale and it is sad that only Propublica seems to have the courage to report on this socialism for the rich nonsense that is GOP national policy.



https://www.propublica.org/article/...eak-to-help-the-poor-went-to-a-rich-gop-donor

The Rybovich superyacht marina lies on the West Palm Beach, Florida, waterfront, a short drive north from Mar-a-Lago. Superyachts, floating mansions that can stretch more than 300 feet and cost over $100 million, are serviced at the marina, and their owners enjoy Rybovich’s luxury resort amenities. Its Instagram account offers a glimpse into the rarefied world of the global 0.1% — as one post puts it, “What’s better than owning a yacht, owning a yacht with a helicopter of course!”

Rybovich owner Wayne Huizenga Jr., son of the Waste Management and Blockbuster video billionaire Wayne Huizenga Sr., has long planned to build luxury apartment towers on the site, part of a development dubbed Marina Village.

Those planned towers, and the superyacht marina itself, are now in an area designated as an opportunity zone under President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax code overhaul, qualifying them for a tax break program that is supposed to help the poor.

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-a-tax-break-to-help-the-poor-went-to-nba-owner-dan-gilbert

Billionaire Dan Gilbert has spent the last decade buying up buildings in downtown Detroit, amassing nearly 100 properties and so completely dominating the area, it’s known as Gilbertville. In the last few years, Gilbert, the 57-year-old founder of Quicken Loans and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has also grown close to the Trump family.

Quicken gave $750,000 to Trump’s inaugural fund. Gilbert has built a relationship with Ivanka Trump, who appeared at one of his Detroit buildings in 2017 for a panel discussion with him. And, last year, he watched the midterm election returns at the White House with President Donald Trump himself, who has called Gilbert “a great friend.”

Gilbert’s cultivation of the Trump family appears to have paid off: Three swaths of downtown Detroit were selected as opportunity zones under the Trump tax law, extending a valuable tax break to Gilbert’s real estate empire.

https://www.propublica.org/article/...p-the-poor-a-billionaire-ended-up-winning-big

Under a six-lane span of freeway leading into downtown Baltimore sit what may be the most valuable parking spaces in America.

Lying near a development project controlled by Under Armour’s billionaire CEO Kevin Plank, one of Maryland’s richest men, and Goldman Sachs, the little sliver of land will allow Plank and the other investors to claim what could amount to millions in tax breaks for the project, known as Port Covington.

They have President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul law to thank. The new law has a provision meant to spur investment into underdeveloped areas, called “opportunity zones.” The idea is to grant lucrative tax breaks to encourage new investment in poor areas around the country, carefully selected by each state’s governor.

 

[Birdjaguar]

OZs were part of the 2017 tax bill and were designed to provide investment for areas around the country that could benefit from economic development. The program allows rich people with substantial capital gains to avoid paying those taxes by investing those gains into beneficial developments.

In the newly designated opportunity zones, investors get a trio of subsidies. If investors take capital gains — generated, for example, by the sale of stock that has increased in value — and put it into a deal in one of the zones, they don’t have to pay capital gains tax up front. Later, their tax bills are trimmed. And, most important, any appreciation on the new investment in the opportunity zone is tax-free after a decade.

Needless to say Rebublicans have found a way to subvert the law to avoid the intent of improving the lives of the not rich. As planned the law is a good one.

 

[Estebonrober]

OZs were part of the 2017 tax bill and were designed to provide investment for areas around the country that could benefit from economic development. The program allows rich people with substantial capital gains to avoid paying those taxes by investing those gains into beneficial developments.



Needless to say Rebublicans have found a way to subvert the law to avoid the intent of improving the lives of the not rich. As planned the law is a good one.

Yea which is the point of ProPublica covering it so well. Because of their coverage congress is looking into this, but my point of sharing it is just knowledge of the bastardization of intent by billionaires. Whom somehow always manipulate everything decent in the world into something terrible and ugly.

Of course we should have seen this coming since it was painfully obvious in the United States of Bribery.

 

[Lexicus]

Needless to say Rebublicans have found a way to subvert the law to avoid the intent of improving the lives of the not rich. As planned the law is a good one.

Oh come on, the whole concept is purely a way to help rich people. It's nothing but more trickle-down garbage. You cannot spur real economic growth by giving money to rich people.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

You cannot spur real economic growth by giving money to rich people.

I wouldn't go this far because I've seen it work. I'm not saying it's the best way or even necessarily a good way to spur real economic growth but it has worked in some instances. My industry is going through a renaissance right now, sparked in no small part by NASA giving money to Elon Musk to carry cargo to the ISS.

 

[Lexicus]

I wouldn't go this far because I've seen it work. I'm not saying it's the best way or even necessarily a good way to spur real economic growth but it has worked in some instances. My industry is going through a renaissance right now, sparked in no small part by NASA giving money to Elon Musk to carry cargo to the ISS.

By "real" economic growth I meant growth where the benefits are actually widely distributed particularly among the poor. I am not sure your industry going through a renaissance fits that description. (note I mean that literally, I don't know enough about your industry to judge)

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yes and no. Oddly enough (given Elon's background and history of exploitation), SpaceX is one of the best companies in the industry for getting poor people jobs. Their headquarters/main factory is located in a poor area of LA and hires thousands of unskilled and uneducated laborers at decently high wages. The techs often make more money than low and mid-tier engineers due to the overtime pay they get. They do not have a union but their base pay is more or less in-line with industry unlike the engineering positions, and this base pay is much higher than what they could get at Wal Mart or wherever and comes with excellent benefits and stock awards. The factory spends a ton of money in the local community, not only supporting a web of material providers but also restaurants and even entertainment venues (company parties are super common). There is also some intangible value with the 'prestige' of the job for the people who work there. I think a well-balanced economy should have a variety of interesting jobs available for people of all skill levels and not entirely focused on one industry; lots of towns these days only have job openings at the local Wal Mart or Lowe's or McDonald's.


That said, the majority of the industry supports upper-middle class, highly specialized jobs that require (advanced) degrees and thus would not meet your criteria unless you are really generous in assuming that those companies spend a large portion of their budget supporting other local businesses. While that does happen (as I said about SpaceX), I don't think it's a primary benefit of the industry. Boeing, after all, isn't buying jet engines from the local mom and pop down the road from their factory.

 

[Lexicus]

Yeah, I mean, the real problem is that so much of the spending that ends up as income for the poor is captured in rent, debt payments, fees to the bank and so on.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Big problems like fighting poverty require a holistic approach for sure.