April 18 2019 Washington DC

The department of the treasury announced a second round of rules around opportunity zones, a tax incentive the president says will drive capital to economically depressed rural communities. RFD-TV’s Sarah Mock reports.

President trump tells state, local, and tribal officials in economically hard-hit communities that financial capital is on the way.

“At the heart of opportunity zones is the belief that every community is worth cherishing, protecting, and renewing. From rural towns to inner cities, we want to build new schools and increase new roads and bridges, build hospitals and parts that are happening all over.”

The opportunity zone program offers investors incentives, in the form of tax breaks, to fund businesses and infrastructure projects in economically depressed areas all 50 states; more than 40% of which are rural. Funds to make these investments weren’t set up until 2017, but one Mississippi county is already seeing the impact—as investors helped a local company purchase and revitalize a troubled sawmill.

“It’s now called the Vicksburg forest products, because of the fact that we were able to come to the White House and the state and local government, check all the boxes, put in money ourselves. City of Vicksburg, 24,000 people, as rural as it gets, and saved 125 jobs. That’s bread on the table.”
Administration officials say there’s nation-wide evidence these local economies are starting to bounce back.

"In the Zillow database, we have with all the real estate transactions in the country. Since the second quarter of last year, they're up twenty percent in about a year."
Officials say companies and individuals in the us held over 6 trillion dollars at the end of 2017 that is eligible to be invested in opportunity funds.
“From private investment capital, the old-fashioned way and many women starting their own businesses, it will be in cities and in the rural areas and my great hope is it will take this great Trump prosperity into every nook and cranny of the American economy.”

Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin says the clarity provided by his departments rules announcements is meant to encourage investors to begin deploying funds now. Getting this program started, he says, is a top priority. For RFD-TV, I’m Sarah Mock in Washington.

Several major private equity and hedge funds have raised massive opportunity zone funds already, in anticipation of guidance released yesterday.

I’m Sarah Mock in Washington. The trump administration publish rules for a tax incentive could bring trillions in investment to struggling rural communities.

Trump
Vicksburg Mayor
Kevin Hasset, Council Of Economic Advisers Chairman
Larry Kudlow

Sarah Mock
Washington Correspondent
@sarah_k_mock

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