Opportunity Zones were enacted as part of the 2017 tax reform package (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) to address uneven economic recovery and persistent lack of growth that have left many communities across the country behind. In the broadest sense, the newly enacted federal Opportunity Zone (OZ) program provides a federal tax incentive for investors to invest in low-income urban and rural communities through favorable treatment of reinvested capital gains and forgiveness of tax on new capital gains.  In Colorado, Opportunity Zones may help address a number of challenges:

• Promoting economic vitality in parts of the state that have not shared in the general prosperity over the past few years
• Funding the development of workforce and affordable housing in areas with escalating prices and inventory shortages
• Funding new infrastructure to support population and economic growth
• Investing in startup businesses that have potential for rapid increases in scale and the ability to “export” outside the state of Colorado
• Upgrading the capability of existing underutilized assets through capital improvement investments

This economic and community development tax incentive program provides a new impetus for private investors to support distressed communities through private equity investments in businesses and real estate ventures. The incentive is deferral, reduction and potential elimination of certain federal capital gains taxes. U.S. investors currently hold trillions of dollars in unrealized capital gains  in stocks and mutual funds alone— this is a significant untapped resource for economic development. Opportunity Funds provide investors the chance to put that money to work rebuilding the nation’s distressed communities. The fund model will enable a broad array of private equity fund managers and investors to pool their resources, increasing the scale of investments going to under-served areas.