EIG Media Contact: Reuben Francis | [email protected]
Washington, D.C. – The Economic Innovation Group (EIG) applauds Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) and the House Ways and Means Committee for including Opportunity Zones (OZ) in their recently unveiled tax legislation.
“EIG applauds the inclusion of a new round of Opportunity Zones designations in the House Ways and Means Committee tax bill, which provides an important starting point for cementing the future of this critical policy,” said John Lettieri, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Economic Innovation Group. “The Opportunity Zones incentive has been one of the biggest successes of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, bringing unprecedented amounts of new investment to left-behind communities nationwide. EIG is grateful that the committee’s bill reflects several of our recommendations, and we look forward to continuing to work with leaders in Congress and the Trump Administration in the months ahead to ensure that Opportunity Zones 2.0 lives up to its transformative potential.”
EIG first put forward the Opportunity Zones concept in a 2015 white paper coauthored by Kevin Hassett and Jared Bernstein. EIG’s sustained policy development and advocacy efforts were instrumental in getting Opportunity Zones enacted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Designed to unlock long-term private capital for economically distressed communities, OZs have since spurred nearly $100 billion in investment in low-income communities nationwide, especially in housing.
Recent EIG research has shown that OZ investment is targeting high-need communities and contributing significantly to the U.S. housing supply. An EIG working paper found that the OZ incentive caused an increase of 313,000 new residential addresses in designated communities from Q3 2019 to Q3 2024 — roughly doubling their housing growth over that period. OZs have also proven to be exceptionally cost-efficient, generating new housing at a fraction of the cost of traditional housing programs.
With this year’s tax reform effort, Congress has the opportunity to build on the OZ policy’s early success, safeguard its integrity through robust reporting requirements, and ensure it delivers broad-based benefits to residents and communities most in need.
About the Economic Innovation Group (EIG)
The Economic Innovation Group (EIG) is a bipartisan public policy organization dedicated to forging a more dynamic and inclusive American economy. Headquartered in Washington, DC, EIG produces nationally-recognized research and works with policymakers to develop ideas that empower workers, entrepreneurs, and communities.
