It’s not accidental that draconian legislation and fraudulent programs are named for the opposite of their actual intents. “Opportunity zone?” “Opportunity” for whom?
31
People elect a rich landowner as their President who makes the landowners richer and richer, and they applaud him. Who's the Enemy? China... Soon the U.S. will become like Hong Kong where people already live in cages but go to the streets even violently to protest, not against their landowners who become each year richer and richer exploiting them, but against China.
7
What rises in value is the land. This simple fact has been carefully ignored in our tax policy.
140 years ago, a wise man wrote a book called "Progress and Poverty." It was widely read throughout the English-speaking world, and soon translated into many languages.
It made the connection between ongoing progress -- technological and otherwise -- and increasing poverty, and then showed a simple, wise, just, efficient measure which would relieve, even abolish, that poverty.
And are you surprised to know that it had to do with land, particularly urban land, and how we treat its economic value?
Acquaint yourself with that book. It is online, and a number of websites share and develop its ideas and insight. For starters, see https://schalkenbach.org/introduction-to-the-ideas-of-henry-george/
9
“Economic Opportunity Zones”, what a scam.
14
Yet another disgusting Trump sop to the rich abetted, it seems, by state governments and even some Democrats. However the accompanying article, "These are the Trump associates benefiting from the tax break" is strange. As is obvious, and as the Times makes clear, the tax break is available to rich Trump defenders and critics (eg Cuban, Scaramucci) alike.
13
A Travesty a Day.
Thank you NYT for reporting on the trump administration's endless efforts to outrage us, the huddled masses, even on this long holiday weekend.
At least they didn't lock any babies in cages today; no doubt Steven Miller will have another outrage for us soon.
Today it's just the same old boring stuff; the rich getting richer.
10
Socialism for the 1% is good.
Socialism for the 99% is bad.
25
Look how giddy these guys look! Trumps rich pals are no doubt giddy knowing all the barrels of dough they will be raking in. The executive order from Trump is like legal stealing... cash give-a-aways to Ivana, Kushner and every republican has them counting their millions. These guys are no more than common thieves stealing from innocent people who are scraping by on low incomes and living week to week in these neighborhoods.
You can bet the people in these neighborhoods are going to lose their homes and will be pushed out unable to afford living anywhere close to new developed "opportunity zones". It will be a bleak future for ordinary people trying to hang on to their homes and jobs and any sense of community they once had.
I want to know exactly who will REALLY benefit from these so called "opportunities"?
9
Water, water everywhere (the views from a luxury condo) and not a drop to drink (in Flint, Newark).......
10
In Baltimore Governor Larry Hogan (R) used a digital mapping error to obtain Opportunity Zone status for a project called Port Covington, Under Armour's new corporate campus. To add insult to injury this is on top of a $660 million tax increment finance (TIF) for the same project that will reduce funding for Baltimore City schools for 40 years, because Sagamore Development's (UA's real estate division) property taxes will be going to pay off bonds, not support Baltimore's general funds, which is where the money for public schools come from.
9
This was obviously never intended as anything but a pork barrel for Trump and his buddies. Just more GOP fraud to rob from the middle class and give to the rich.
11
Another Trump con job on Americans. Yet they will still vote for this guy as long as he tells them that this article along with any others that expose Trump as the lying fraud that he is is simply "fake news" pushed by the evil Democrats.
I hope I'm granted life long enough to read a comprehensive historical
10
One of the deepest ironies of this and other such programs lies in the basic fact of who has economic resources.
Everyone knows few people of color- African-America and Hispanics- have money. We have finally gotten to the point where this huge economic disparity between whites and blacks is discussed.
Yet, in many cities where Opportunity Zones exist the poor, and black, and Hispanic folks who live there are economically destitute because of ...governmental policies and politics extending back generations.
This irony must be made a part of any discussion of who benefits from such programs. They are intended to be a working fall for the already wealthy.
This is why America fails. Black and brown people know this. So does the rest of the nation.
9
I'm sure that when Dearleader trump finds out that 'the Mooch' and other mega wealthy friends of his have jumped like sharks on this opportunity zone to grab it all for themselves, he'll put a stop to it right quick. And Deripaska in Kentucky? As soon as trump finds out what deal Moscow Mitch made, he'll do something to stop it, right? And maybe no one told trump about the bipartisan legislation waiting to secure voting systems for the coming election? He'll insist Congressional republicans move on THAT, right? An overwhelming majority of Americans want gun control like other peaceful nations have; trump will most certainly NOT accept flattery from the NRA, no sir! Any time now, we'll see trump stand up to someone other than America's natural environment, and liberals. Any time now. Just as soon as trump's undocumented employees spiff up the failing Doral Bedbug property, then make themselves scarce for the (personally profitable, cha-ching!) next G9. G9? Yes. Putin and Kim will be honorary members now, cause donnie says so.
Any supporters still with this charlatan? Why??
7
Wow. Big news. A tax break for developers brings in, who? DEVELOPERS who — wait for it — are the ones with the money to develop!
Only the NYT could be so aghast that a tax break for the people with the money to invest benefits — wait for it — the people with the money to invest!
4
Yes there's an opportunity zone in Brooklyn encompassing the waterfront by DUMBO and the wonderful Brooklyn Bridge Park. Most expensive real estate in Brooklyn but apparently we need to allow developers a tax break to build here? I have no issue with the idea of opportunity zones but in my opinion they were drawn corruptly and should be revised immediately.
8
Nobody should be surprised by this.
Trump policies do NOT aim to improve the quality of our lives or to create a better world for the next generation.
It is solely aimed at short term maximum profit (mostly Trump’s). What it comes next will be somebody else’s problem. That will be one of the most shameful legacies of this administration.
4
Follow the tax breaks of the Dolan Brothers. Why does Madison Square Garden need a tax break?
2
We have a very close friend who lives in the Pacific Northwest and works as a loan officer for a non-profit that writes “micro-loans” for small businesses and community development—exactly the target market for these so-called, “Opportunity Zones.” Here’s what she has to say about this tax bill:
“Oh man oh man...and what makes me even more angry than the program itself is the fact that many low income communities - particularly rural communities- are still under the illusion that they are going to get some of this money. The time and money being put into trying to attract the OZ money to the places that really need it is draining resources - economic and human - from initiatives and economic development investments that do work. I have never been more pessimistic about the work that I do. It all feels so futile.”
So much winning...
9
Americans know nothing about economy .
They think it is making money.
2
Raw Jungle Capitalism is not what we need nor is it sustainable...it will collapse like the giant pyramid scam that it is....these so called "businessmen" know nothing about conducting actual business, none are merchants or manufacturers and none know about running a legitimately profitable business.....they have simplistic widget mentalities and are gutting this country and the global economy in their endless pursuit for greater profits and control over others. Ask Adam Smith about the nature of Capitalism and how it must be balanced & regulated IF it is to continue.
4
Richard is right on target about the NYT typical anti-Trump slant. All policy efforts have pros and cons---and the rich and poor will always populate America. Trump and Carson have made a sincere effort to help poverty areas in American big cities.
2
In the late 1960`s, Robert Kennedy was desperately trying to find ways to pull the poorest areas of New York out of their endless cycle of decay and despair by having corporations and various foundations invest in those communities. He had barely scratched the surface of what would no doubt take decades to turn those hellish communities around. But unlike Trump and people of his ilk; R.F.K. was never seeking to exploit those areas for his own personal wealth. His was a genuine example of Noblesse Oblige. Until there are more that are willing to pick up that mantle of helping for the sake of helping; rather than the sick exploitation of the poor we see by these Neo-Cons today; the poor will continue to be the ultimate pawns in these capitalist games that have now become so common in the good old U.S.A. today. Shame.
2
Two main points here:
the flaw in the law is that it is about money not results: however 'opportunity zone' is defined in the law, clearly it is too vague to have actually done anything for the purported targets, which are poor neighborhoods. The results described sound more like hyper-gentrification than increasing the engagement of the destitute
Second: capital gains tax has always been a completely immoral sham, promulgated for the wealthy by their minions (the GOP). Income from capital gains is income, and should be treated that way. And loss from investment is that powerful force of economic evolution that weeds out the weak, not the deferment baloney it is today. There have been a few exceptional time in American history when the pump needed priming, and temporary tax or other rules engineering can help. But in these times the idea that the tax-payers should be covering investor risk is simply stupid and evil
5
Our small businesses can’t survive another 4 years of unpredictable Trump and Moscow Mitch McConnell and other cronies in Washington, DC.
3
Like “America first” the whole idea behind the tax beak was “Trump first.” When was the last time any republican administration gave a tax break to help america’s Middle or poor classes?
2
“Trump family and cronies benefit from policy supposed to help the poor.”
In other news, the sun rose.
3
When the tax bill was passed this loophole was publicized, it would profit Trump and real estate investors. It is a travesty, one that primary Candidates should address at every rally. Real problem is the complacency of all of us, we are steam rolled by all of the draconian policies this administration has instituted. We need to flood the streets like Paris, the UK and Hong Kong. Trump represented us at the G7. Think about it, a bumbling, lying, incompetent, dangerous fool. He is our face to the world, we need to hit the streets, the exploitation is destroying both our futures and the environment.
3
In what alternate universe are these tax “breaks,” operating under the infamous principle of “voodoo capitalism”/trickle down economics, meant to benefit the poor?! This is all sheer demagoguery. What would help the poor is a taxation system and a realignment of national priorities that will provide a solid safety net for all but, particularly, for the working poor, the underclass, the disabled, the chronically ill, all those injured in unnecessary wars, pregnant women, children’s education, the elderly, the underemployed, and so on.
Why is the US electorate so taken in by these posturings? How long are the corrupt powers that be going to continue reproducing the lies that came to the fore with Reaganism?
This is a “Well, duh!” article. It was to be expected. Keep on truckin’, people!
1
Tax law and immigration are what we need to be concentrating on. The new immigration policy is not considering newly immigrated, illegal immigrant, and existing naturalized citizen properly; therefore, there is a potential of US citizens that are just seeking replacement naturalization / passports which has been lost in government systems to be overtaxed. For example, a newly immigrated (visa status) pays taxes on a different tax status than someone who has been employed and paid taxes in this country for years. We need an office that just deals with replacement naturalization certificates for existing US Citizens, so citizens that have been in this country since the age of four and filing taxes don't get lumped with immigrants that are illegal or seeking citizenship status. The form differential for the naturalization certificate is not enough for government staff to not make mistakes and ruin a citizen's life or employment status.
3
I'm pretty sure "Trump's signature plan" did exactly what it was intended to do.
8
Just visit Jersey City, NJ to see how these operate. Sky high high rises for the wealthy that create a wall between the citizens here prior to development and the gentrified new comers. Although JC is diverse culturally, JC's neighborhoods are segregated. With these fancy buildings came the private schools to further segregate the populations. Bc of tax breaks, limited funds were invested in the areas yet infrastructure strains to handle the influx of new residents day by day.
5
In NYC/NYS where mega-developers & Wall St are king...here's the 'money shot' in the article: this Governor Cuomo-gets to er-pick the sites-well, well, well.
“The idea was to enable governors to draw opportunity zones in ways that would include projects or businesses just outside poor census tracts, potentially creating jobs for low-income people. In addition, states could designate whole sections of cities or rural areas that would be targeted for investment, including some higher-income census tracts.”
Then for even broader perspective-one only need look at the rezonings/upzonings in black & brown 'hoods where-au contraire-deBlasio's disingenuous 'affordable' lotteries reliant on HUD Fed median income criteria -have NOTHING IN COMMON with the residents being fast tracked into displacement-and yes, they are black and brown low income neighborhood residents.
Add it all up and what we get in NYC is "Opportunities" for the rich which flouts the 1968 Fair Housing Act in a kind of economic reverse redlining!
3
Another loop-hole scheme to bury money in an endless cycle to avoid taxes. Meanwhile, Opportunity Zones is another term for gentrification. So not only do we pay the taxes the wealthy don't, but we pay the higher rents that gentrification brings. A double whammy.
2
The rich in this scenario are not investing in projects that benefit anyone but themselves and other wealthy speculators.
Where is the common good here?
6
I am all in favor for tax breaks on capital gains - I believe taxes are prohibitively high for some groups of people. However, what I am against is that the laws are created to benefit only the “inner circle” and the Trump family.
I live in Jersey City and was at the Jersey Shore last evening, and all is I see is Katerra developments everywhere. How is it that only Kushners and few select others are in the demarked zones? Not ethical and highly corrupt.
9
Profit seeking and helping the downtrodden most of the time do not correlate. In trickle-down economics the goal is to make money. There are greater returns with less risk where there are people with more money and less minorities. So that is what private programs will work towards, which is further the growing income gap through self-serving investments.
2
A story with plenty of facts to prove the unfairness of the way that the opportunity zone program actually works. This may be another example of unintended consequences, or it may be an example of a program fraudulently pitched to be something it was never intended to be. I have my suspicions.
Nothing wrong with a government program that draws private funds into providing solutions to social problems. A good example of a successful program of this type is the subsidies for solar panel construction. Perhaps the success of the opportunity zone program can be improved by promulgating well-designed administrative regulations. Of course, that will never happen while Donald Trump and HIS Republican Party are in power.
2
I don't believe that Trump is focused on helping the average US citizen, but focused on the upper class. Should the mid to lower class benefit, it would be a byproduct.
4
Why does everyone act so surprised? This was the point from the beginning- call it something to help the poor- and make sure it i to help the rich.
7
The government is controlled by the rich, and all policies will only be meant to benefit them.
They are not shy about it.
7
Zooming in on Opportunity Zone maps for our area I find some of the most expensive real estate zones included & many of the poorest areas excluded. Need another million dollar home - we have your back. Need housing & development for the people who work for those who live in million dollar homes - not so much.
5
This is a response to all posters who imagine that the nice developers will solve the 'slum problem'. Slums exist because the job creators in the great capitalist economy of the greatest country in the world don't in fact create decent paying jobs. Actually for the bottom sector of the population they don't create jobs at all. This is why people at the bottom have been left to rot in their slums.
Once the nice hotels and restaurants take over their neighbourhood, what happens with the precariously employed and the unemployed? They move to another slum because this is all they can afford.
15
Muhammad Yunus demonstrated that sharing finance between the poor and more wealthy results in the poor missing out, explained in Banker to the Poor. That was why he designed and setup micro loans to go to poor women ONLY.
5
This doesn’t sound so bad. Such development usually makes bad neighborhoods better. Compare Times Sq now to what it was in the 70s.
I live in rural Utah and heard about an "opportunity zone" in a nearby town. In Utah, these zones were supposed to help rural farmers. Instead, the zone itself was located on (non-farming) land at the edge of that town. It was useless land to farmers, but some rich developer could easily put up some sort of box store or yet another strip mall.
This sort of grifting - taking from those who really need a hand-up and giving to those who certainly do not need any help at all - is becoming common in our nation, much more so under trump. It needs to stop. I can barely wait for the election, or impeachment, or the 25th, totally necessary but for sure steadily blocked by the GOP, who should know better, and probably do know better, but refuse to act because - power/money. This is all just exhausting.
7
Strategically located over Philly's major rail hub, with service to suburbs and other cities, the office building would have been a success for any developer. But Pennsylvania, under a then new law, designated it an "Opportunity Zone" and gave away major tax revenues. And not just to the building's owners. All of the owners of businesses renting space also got a total exemption from city and state income taxes. So important for the "struggling" huge law firms locating there as well as their partners/owners, many of whom earn over a million each year. Not so much for employees, who got no tax break. Yes, a great "opportunity" to subsidize the wealthy.
7
Since when have rich politicians created economic plans that truly intend to help the poor? Case in point.
2
I remember once trump said that no one should live in Manhattan that didn't make close to half a million dollars a year. At the time I lived in an are that has become gentrified beyond my expenses. If he felt that half a mil was enough 30 years ago I'm sure no one I'd ever known can afford it now.
5
Interesting to read comments from the money Republicans, which go something like "how else are you going to get development in these slums?" That is just perfume sprinkled over this redolent, transparent tax dodge for gentrification. If the goal really were to foster improvement of these areas, the tax breaks would be for companies that relocate and create jobs in these neighborhoods, and for construction of affordable housing. All we need to know about the true purpose of "opportunity zones" is that the Kushners are all in.
15
Isn't it up to the local town officials to delineate where the funds can be spent? I don't think that throwing a bone to the rich is the worst thing if more affordable housing were created. However, why do they get to write off all their taxes? How about half? The thing I notice though is that growth is not balanced and does not include transportation. The more people, the more congestion. Who's building the roads and subways? And who is looking out to make sure that locals aren't gentrified out of their neighborhoods?
5
"I don't think that throwing a bone to the rich"
This in not throwing a bone to the rich but rather taking fewer bones from the rich. Giving and not taking are not quite the same thing.
I assume the idea behind these zones is to incentivize people to do business in otherwise unattractive areas. Areas with high crime and low work skills, and high levels of dependency. if so, society benefits through less crime, skill development, and less public dependency.
John
Capital gains tax is one of the biggest concerns to the lower and middle income folks, having all that intergenerational wealth and stuff...a targeted boon to lift them up seems reasonable if you believe that what they are selling.
1
Jared Kushner seems to be involved in lots of sketchy things particularly around real estate deals. I think Jared and Ivanka may be counting on pardons should they ever be held accountable for any crimes they may have committed.
8
I agree that the OZ tax breaks directly beneficial to rich people that don't live in the same zones. Having noted that, I think that most of these zones need some middle income and high income people to advocate for the improvement in the infrastructure and businesses. As long as the incentives create middle to high income housing and businesses. I can live with it. (I lived in Newburgh NY for 6 years and building low income housing there didn't do much since there were no jobs there and there was no public transit to get the poorest to work.) This might work.
2
A tax break of any kind is really a tax shift. Taxes are supposed to generate revenue, and when they don't, either other taxpayers or future taxpayers pick up the bill. Helping investors avoid paying taxes should not be the function of government, especially one that is exploding the deficit.
17
To make the reporter and the NYT readers happy, I have an idea:
Raise capital gains taxes to 100% and impose the tax on a mark to market basis. That way, rich people will suffer, no one will build anything, and we can all wallow equally in a common decent into ever greater poverty while feeling virtuous.
I prefer to have rich people deploy their capital so others might get some use out of it.
2
@Sagi "...so others might get some use out of it."...yes, those others being other rich people...great idea...why isn't this tax break regulated?
2
If Democrats gets elected in 2020 just simply state that any property that was not built in a low income area lose this tax status and pay a one time penalty tax of 50% for taking part in this fraudulent behavior.
9
It is like a 1031 Exchange and a Roth IRA all wrapped together. Brilliant maneuver to further hollow out the tax base and secure the wealth differential for another generation.
16
All tax breaks benefit people who pay taxes. So they necessarily benefit wealthy taxpayers. You make it sound like this is a new phenomenon under the Trump Administration.
But you miss the point, this tax break means that the taxes will NEVER come due to be paid. They take a pending tax liability and steer it into a non-taxable vehicle to permanently avoid the bill.
19
Never before has a past president and his family ever benefited so directly from tax legislation. Trump is, and has been from day one of his presidency, been in violation of the Emoluments law in the constitution. Never before has president been so bold face about flaunting the violation of evading taxes.
11
Socialism for the Rich, or Socialism for the 99%.
As for these zones, this was predicted 2 years ago.
10
Is this supposed to be new? Chicago’s Democratic mayors have been doing it for years with its TIFs (Tax Incentive Programs) which are supposed to give developers tax incentives to start projects in underdeveloped areas. Sounds great in principle, but none of this money seems to make it to the South and West Sides where low income blacks are concentrated and where there is nothing but empty lots but goes instead to neighborhoods on the North Side like River North and Lincoln Yards which developers were already looking at. It’s great for them and for the aldermen who get to distribute the goodies but it’s just business as usual in this typical Democratic run bankrupt city. So let’s not pretend that Trump is doing anything different.
6
What happened to draining the swamp?
2
It would be better for the public if the investors just paid their taxes and those funds could be used for general government purposes. Construction jobs are never long term. I don't believe that the owners of the capital gains will never sell or reinvest without a special deal. They want a continuing income and will not keep it in an asset that is not appreciating. Better to pay the capital gains now and start making money again. I think that most of the opportunity zones are implemented using dishonesty in a way that will not generate long term jobs in an efficient manner. I think that the whole concept of opportunity zones stimulates local government corruption. Property owners pay politicians behind the scene (i.e. bribes) to get the tax benefits. It's disgusting.
12
Trump and the GOP don't do anything unless their friends, wealthy donors or themselves can profit somehow. They're anything but magnanimous
14
Our government is beyond saving. It is corrupt to its core.
Bernie Sanders is right beyond a shadow of a doubt. We need a political revolution. If we don't, you will see a real one.
13
But less corrupt the most governments.
I think it rather naive to think this was ever “intended” to help poor communities. The tax bill was about support for Republican donors.
20
We were in Portland, ME a few weeks ago and could see the ravages of opportunity-zone gentrification. Remind me how the poor benefit from ritzy housing development and posh boutiques and restaurants for rich people? Lots of homeless though. And, that's just one U.S. city.
17
As I'm reading this article, all I can think of are the farmers and ranchers who voted for Trump and are now going to lose their farms because of Trump's tariffs. They're losing income while Trump's family and friends profit hand over fist. I can't help but think Trump et al are laughing at them at every rally.
24
Why did anyone expect it to be any different?
The rule of the 1% is Trump's goal: everything is designed to stack the deck against the middle class and lower classes.
Hey, If I was a billionaire, I would want things stacked in my favour too, and I would have the money to buy the politicians to make it happen.
16
Seems the plan is working like it is supposed to: real estate developers are developing. So what ? Let's see how how many filthy rich democrat developers decide not to avail themselves of benefits under this program. Bet there will be plenty who "sully" their hands as well. All hands in the till will be fully bipartisan. You can bet your ranch on this.
3
@Unhappy JD I don;t think whether one is a democrat, libertarian, republican or green has any basis in this story. It is about the rich, regardless of party.
1
There is no capital gains tax in New Zealand. The government builds State houses for homeless people. You get homelessness when too many immigrants come into the country and buy up all your housing. Our government had to change the laws saying most foreigners can only build new properties and add to the EXISTING housing stock instead of buying up the existing housing stock and creating a housing shortage. Took our government a while to get around to making that law and catching up with Australia whom already have that law where foreigners can't buy existing homes, with a few exceptions.
Rents are extremely high in NZ and there is still a housing shortage. I think the government needs to force all foreigners who bought existing houses before the new law came in, this year, to sell their properties. Or put a huge tax on the capital gains when they sell.
12
We can give investors reasons to invest by giving them tax breaks, so that they benefit more taxwise from making investments than from keeping their capital gains unrealized and therefore untaxed. Or we could give investors reasons to invest by taxing nonproductive capital.
A shortage of capital hinders investment. But a surfeit of capital is also problematic. A surplus of capital will have two undesirable results: It drives up the price and lowers the return on investment properties, and it powers a hunger for investments with decent returns that opens the way for scammers to peddle investments that appear safe and with good returns but that are not. Thus a surplus of capital leads to bubbles, rampant speculation, and creative scams, and weakens rather than strengthens the underlying economy.
The ways to reduce a surplus of capital are to raise taxes and lessen the need of people to save. Increasing Social Security benefits and making college more affordable will lessen the need to save and therefore cause the surplus of capital to dwindle. It will also hurt the financial industry, which will no longer have all this surplus capital to manage and play games with, and we will quickly hear the standard cries of socialism and government intervention in the marketplace (government intervention is welcome only when the bubbles burst and the scams get out of hand and the financial types need a bailout).
3
Who determines what is non productive capital? What a canard ! Capital is only non productive when it is stuffed in a mattress.
An example of a law with good intentions, a law that could benefit those who need such benefit the most, but the unscrupulous twist it so that its intent is entirely blocked. Out of the swamp that Trump has built in Washington's power centers have come many of his family members or current or past friends to take advantage of this law and make their millions without having to pay any tax.
The intent of the law clearly was to go into the poorest slum neighborhood, into the center of the "rat infestation" inhabited by the poorest Americans, and give that area a chance to rebuild itself, to get rid of the dirt and replace it with dwellings and structures, housing and schools and service centers (e.g., medical), and turn the area into a place of beauty and no longer a slum. Benefits the poor could afford.
But the unscrupulous Trump group who can smell a profit faster than a bear can smell food have twisted the intent to suit themselves. Not in the heart of the slum will they erect their new edifices but on the borders , where gentrification has already begun. They are going to build luxury dwellings only affordable by the affluent-- resort-style swimming pools too expensive for the slum dweller---expanding the gentrification to meet the demand of the wealthy while avoiding all taxes. This becomes a real opportunity to become ultra-wealthy. Your article quotes an observer who accurately describes the process as "putting money where money is already accumulating."
8
Another probable outcome of the Trump Administration is another major depression.
This legislation is another example of “trickle down” economics to help the rich at the expense of the poor. It would be nice if it would “help the poor”, but it will not. It will help rich developers like the occupant of the White House at the expense of the poor who will be forced out of their neighborhoods in the name of progress.
In the meantime the economy stalls thanks to falling demand and ill considered legislation such as this one designed to benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor and of no benefit to the middle class.
7
If we want to give tax breaks to potential investors to put money into “opportunity zones” how can anyone except for the wealthy benefit from something that requires wealth to participate? Since the zones were essentially selected by cities, most of which are Democratically controlled, how can we blame the Trump administration for that? Lastly, there are other tax credits, particularly for investing in tech startups where the benefits go to wealthy investors since the poor cannot make those investors. Even as a progressive, o found this article poorly informed.
11
Stuff like this is going to result in revolution. Let’s hope it’s a peaceful one led by someone like Elizabeth Warren, because if it’s not, it’s going to make the French Revolution look like a walk in the park.
21
The best way to have a revolution is to elect Elizabeth Warren. Democrats are out to kill the entire country except for those few counties who can elect a president by popular vote. Look at the map—it’s virtually all red. Does that not say something about the UNITED STATES. There was a time when we were united but any more I am not sure Democrat’s want states and they certainly do not want us to be united in anything except socialistic ideas. Be careful what you want. In the process you might just kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
If anyone is surprised by this, they have been sleeping for decades.
This is capitalism at its worst, and best. It's just evil to allow money to buy politicians and write laws.
The Decline and Fall of the American Empire can't move fast enough.
26
The simple fact is that local government decide where to put the money. Here in a solidly progressive democratic county out leaders have chosen to take this money for development in high end neighborhood like North Bethesda.
I don't like a lot of things Trump does but do;t blame him for the local politicians decisions to enrich themselves and their developer friends by wasting this money on very wealthy areas of the country!
11
It's more accurate to characterize the 2017 tax bill as the House Republicans' bill that President Trump signed. You can debate the merits of the Opportunity Zone provisions all you want, but the narrative that it was pushed by Trump to benefit cronies is not accurate. To provide an accompanying article listing the Trump associates that are benefit veers into yellow journalism a la Citizen Kane.
12
Must agree, the tax bill is Republican, not Trumpian.
1
Building for the sake of tax saving, rather than based on demand, is a bad idea and will lead to investors losing significant money on the hope of saving taxes. Only middle men and investment bankers will make money. We have seen this movie before.
5
When will "liberals", like Senator Booker, stop providing the ideological justification for Wall Street? A tax break for the wealthy dressed up as an anti-poverty program.
The New Deal generation conceived and implemented public works programs that we still benefit from today. Those programs weren't tax dodges. They were direct infrastructure investments.
We have to learn from this.
20
I live in an Opportunity Zone. I've been renting here for nearly 20 years, working my way up the income ladder and saving to someday own my own home (GenXer who had hefty student loans to pay off, then retirement savings to catch up on.) But now everything here is too expensive: rent keeps going up, and every building that goes up is a luxury apartment or condo building (most units are likely being purchased by investors to rent as Air B n B's.) The addition of all the luxury buildings was supposed to free up older units for use as moderate price housing -- instead, they keep increasing in price.
Now that I'm in a position to buy a home, I'd hoped that I'd be eligible for some incentives to help me purchase in my neighborhood, given that it's an Opportunity Zone. Nope. The only incentives appear to be those mentioned in the article, available to people wealthy enough to be looking to tax shelter capital gains on stock earnings -- which in general means, wealthy enough to not live in an Opportunity Zone.
Since I can't afford to buy in my neighborhood of twenty years, and soon I won't be able to afford the rent, I'll probably have to move out. But at least I'll find somewhere to live -- unlike the many unfortunate folks living in the back alleys behind just about every building here, and the many others living in cars and RVs around town.
Welcome to Opportunity: Except if you're poor or, well, anyone silly enough to rely on income from a paycheck.
28
@Wondering Why isn't this an example of the system working? Your neighborhood is developed. Jobs have been created. You've earned enough money to now afford a house - may be not in your neighborhood, but a house none the less. What would the alternative have been? For the government to build housing. That would have enabled you to live in your neighborhood - but no jobs would have been created and your neighborhood would be underdeveloped - apart from the housing.
4
@Michael My job is not in my neighborhood. My job is in a high income neighborhood some distance away that I cannot hope to live in. I work long hours so I don't really want to commute twice as far, and I'm not happy to be pushed out of the community I've been part of for twenty years.
An alternative would be if the Opportunity Zone program would provide tax incentives that would help a *working person* afford a home to live in, not just wealthy investors who don't live here. People like me don't have capital gains tax to offset, because our savings are in retirement accounts, and in bank accounts saving for a home. (Financial advisors don't recommend risking home savings in the stock market.) Why not offer tax incentives to offset income taxes and taxes on bank account interest?
"Back in the day," people by and large saw societal value in community: Tax policy encouraged homeownership for working people; public policy at least tried not to drive out longterm residents. Now it's, "Nice having you and your paycheck for the past twenty years; don't let the door hit you on the way out."
17
@Michael BTW, had the government simply done nothing, I'd have had a better shot at buying housing in my neighborhood. There was already moderately priced housing stock here -- it's just that higher priced housing and some upscale restaurants have been added, which has driven up real estate prices throughout the neighborhood. I'm not begrudging anyone who got a job out of this (and to be fair, there was already gentrification underway -- this just exacerbated it.) But there are plenty of working people who would like to buy the former moderately priced housing stock. Instead of helping us buy the existing stock, the government is making it impossible for us (prices have gone up, so we get pushed out) while helping wealthy outsiders buy new luxury units. Something's fishy there!
11
Three years, almost, yet it feels as if we've been subjected to the brutality of all things Trump for decades.
When I think it can't get any worse, learning of the eternal deceitfulness and utter hypocrisy of this man, some additional evidence of his mendaciousness comes to the fore just about every day.
Truly I hope there will come at some instant in his existence, an awareness of the damage he has wrought on the planet, and along with that awareness, I want him to feel, even though I believe he is incapable of feeling, I want him to know the pain of regret, of real remorse, along with the realization that forgiveness will never be available for him.
Trump is without doubt the most unworthy human ever to exist on this planet.
15
What can we expect? This is what corruption looks like. We've got an un-indicted criminal in the oval office now scot-free to continue his campaign of wreaking havoc and chaos on the nation. Over half of all eligible voters (some 100 million) didn't even bother to vote in 2016. And this is the consequence … a so- called president whose narcissism is legion, his solipsism unashamed, his hedonism uninhibited. Voter apathy is tragic and dangerous.
17
Why am I not surprised.
4
It was never “a tax break to help the poor,” NYT. Everyone knew that.
17
It's rich people's job to make sure there's no opportunity for everyone else- that's sort of the definition on being rich. They're all a bunch of sharks, scenting blood on the water. Rest of us are just the hapless schools of clownfish trying not to get swallowed.
11
I don't understand, foreign investors have a right to dump millions into luxury buildings. So what they remain vacant they're good investments and bound to only increase in value, Just like Tesla stocks.
The companion piece shows probably the most rational voice on ABC Sunday news, Chris Christie is making a killing in Hackensack NJ. Ever been to Hackensack? Storage units are a gold mine by the way.
I agree we should be looking at government corruption but partisan corruption...You can fool some of the people.
3
Tax laws the benefit the rich is what the GOP calls American Capitalism, Tax fairness is labeled Socialism.
Remember only little people pay taxes.
7
Excellent expose again. To quote some of it:
" Only 7 percent of Americans report taxable capital gains, and nearly two-thirds of that income was reported by people with a total annual income of $1 million or more, according to I.R.S. data."
As usual a shallow Trumpian effect benefiting in reality the already wealthy- the donor class of course. Meanwhile some gullible farmers continue to support this fake president even though the stable genius has cornered them into shouldering losses through the foolish tariffs.
Meanwhile, because of the opportunity-zone blatant scam
"Lawyers, accountants, wealth managers and consultants are enjoying a gusher of new work — and raking in fees — helping clients structure deals with the maximum tax savings."
First children in cages, then death warrants for sick kids, next the farmers, next- probably the average voter. Trump is a proven-in-court un-indicted criminal coconspirator who ordered a subordinate to commit a crime.
Nothing good can come from a criminal who would be in jail if he were not president. This is no different. Come on Nancy. Act now.
Impeachment is an opportunity zone too.
9
Is nice to see real state developers taking advantage of the tax cuts. The problem is that they are pushing the real state prices up. When they do that are making the average American people poorer. Back in the 50s the average monthly rent in Manhattan was $60 now the average rent is about $3800. So, $60 in the 50s is worth now $780 - $830. These trends follow all across …
Because the government runs in tax revenues, it must have a budget. The big problem here is the National Debt growing at fast rate.
5
Wealthy investors are the people least in need of tax breaks.
7
The question is how do we direct money and resources towards the places that need them while avoiding the further enrichment of the already rich. Raising taxes on the rich and using that money to revitalize areas most affected by poverty is in most cases is the best method as long as the funds do not become political footballs. Perhaps a nonpartisan commission of legislators, community representatives and experts in poverty programs could be established to avoid this partisanship and aid planning.
But of one thing I am sure, allowing the vulture capitalists to control the spoils is a sure fire ticket to corruption on a huge scale.
7
When you realize that over the decades, the IRS Tax Code has grown to over 70,000 pages, then you know that it is no longer about policy, as it is to pacify every single individual, group, business, corporation, etc. Yes, the tax credit for children, on too of the tax deduction was made only to pacify that group, so that they don't pay attention to what the Congress is doing with all the other deductions, and credits. No, over 60 years ago, Congress decided that policy would best be decided by ideologues, as they refused to tax for all the legislation they passed that needed funding, and instead started to borrow for it. That is how we got the build up of the cold war( I took a fall out shelter census because our county, Pondera, in Montana had 87 missiles put in, and of course, only one person had a fall out shelter), the Vietnam War, the new entitlement programs, Medicare & Medicaid, the almost 20 years in the middle east, etc. That is how you get both poor domestic policy, and dangerous foreign policy. If you taxed for all of it, I guarantee, people would pay attention. Except for Bill Clinton, presidents for decades have given tax cuts, and is it any wonder why our government is in fiscal straits. Medicaid, the healthcare program for 75 million, is set to run out of money in less than 3 years to pay all the bills. Think that Congress had done anything to shore it up? Think again, they haven't. It has no premium for those on it, and state budgets are strained.
3
The Opportunity Zone is a great plan. A dilapidated neighborhood needs upliftment. Some people would always take a cut from a government program. This time it is the president's circle.
With pork-barrel politics politicians of all colors handed down contracts to their benefactors or cronies. Trump is making it almost transparent. That is not a good development, however, the shining real estates in a poor neighborhood would be a good progress.
1
The way in which the president and the governmental institutions proclaim in the press media, the imprisonment, separation of families and deportations, the closures of programs that remove the American residence and the non-eligibility to fix the status of these people, are causing that racist criminals commit these mass killings and in public places🥺🥺🥺
This is a total outrage and needs to be highlighted by the Democrats every time Trump and his minions belch loudly about their opportunity zones. Please do so with pictures!
11
Just wait until we see the dems who put money into these projects.
1
Why does anyone act surprised when a con man like Trump rips them off. That’s what they do.
16
Like President Cheney's no-bid contracts to Halliburton...
21
And this is news? Are you surprised? Enough news about what is a given. 2020 boot these crooks out.
11
Let us stuff our face with cake!
7
After the Revolution all of these Vassals of President Trump will be Exiled to foreign countries. Let those governments deal with them. Up the Revolution!
3
@Joel Friedlander
Watch out Joel, the stable scientific genius might nuke Dorian on its way to Palm Beach; he might make the hurricane radioactive. Good luck. I hope your abode does not get too badly hit.
3
The problem is not the Opportunity Zone program itself, it is a good idea. The issue was who selected which zones in which states were Opportunity Zones, which were commented on and negotiated with the governors of the respective states. I wonder who may have influenced the designation of those zones.
12
As we all know, Trump and his ilk believe in the fairy tale of the trickle-down theory. If you help the rich, the poor might get a few drops. If you view this tax break and others like it in this light, regardless of the misleading titles attached to them, understanding their end results become trivial.
3
The people who have accumulated wealth have most often been willing to to take enormous risks and work very very hard for a long time.
Most people don’t. Depends on if you have the ability, the intelligence and want to be on top.
If you want cap gains you can’t accept failure, so go get them.
4
So, if they don't have money to risk, or they are responsible to gamble away what they have, if they are not able to put too long hours because the family obligations, they should be condemned to be poor and homeless? And even if you think so why should we give tax break to rich people? They like to risk their money, but why should we encourage that? If they like it, they will do it without additional encouragement
8
It does not even matter which side you support on this issue.
How many glassy office towers and luxury apartment buildings does this country need? Really!
13
Government sponsored gentrification.
8
The president's tax breaks only benefit one group
Americans
5
@Bummero
And some Slovenians.. a select group of chain migration immigrants.
9
To all of you who believe in America's promises: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of the press: grow up.
Reality: America's promise is a tax code that makes it easy to turn a buck faster than you can anywhere else on the planet.
4
Do what? Learn what the actual principles and tenets of Stoicism are?
The entire premise of the Democratic platform is that the wealthy are holding on to their wealth and not reinvesting it. Well, this here incentive appears to be doing that. That's how it works folks. The fact that the investor gets a return on that investment is a feature, not a bug.
5
It is true, but what the society gets in return? Unaffordable housing, unaffordable education, unaffordable healthcare? The question became what kind of investment we want to encourage? One the created unaffordable things?
9
That’s the way it is and no revolution will overthrow this worldwide criminal class, electors of kings and potentates. They are now so well armed that no popular uprising, such as happened here 240 years ago will ever happen again. The idea of Freedom that our founders proposed is dead; not perfect while it lived, as historians and its detractors will state, it might have one last god given chance next year.
4
Welcome to trumpland ...IF there is ever an infrastructure plan from this administation , expect to see your roads , bridges , and water plants in the hands of these guys . They will one day own everything !
5
The bottom line is poor communities will be helped, but not the poor. The poor will need to move somewhere else. You can blame the President but also blame Congress. the President could not do this himself
3
@sbanicki By developing poor communities, the poor are afforded an opportunity to work where they live and improve their living standards. The job of government is to provide opportunity. The job of people and local leaders is to make use of that opportunity. The alternative would beg for the government to build housing without regard for overall economic development. That's generally a bad idea.
1
Well, they MAY afford the opportunity to work for the community, which they can not afford to live in. Such development could provide the opportunity but not for the poor. Such programs provide the opportunity for rich, not for poor. And the Government's duty is provide the EQUAL opportunity for all
1
@yulia The false notion being peddled in certain quarters of the Democratic Party is that people have absolutely no role to play in their own development and improvement. That is wrong on so many counts. When effort and risk is not rewarded, development stagnates. A tax break like this incentivizes the deployment of locked up capital in underdeveloped communities. Local leaders and people are in turn accountable for making sure that that capital is deployed in a manner that makes sense for their communities and provides a return for the developer which is reasonable for them to expect. That's how everyone wins. In the absence of local leadership and a desire for people to take on accountability for their own betterment, there is little the government can do to improve their lot.
The NYT's willful stoking of outrage is the real outrage here.
There is nothing in the tax law determined to make it a windfall for the rich only. In fact, anyone owning even a nominal amount of assets can also benefit from it.
A member of my immediate family who purchased rental real estate in the 1970s in Los Angeles for $80K had depreciated the purchase price down to zero over the course of 30 years as tax law allows. That meant any subsequent sale would have had the full sale price taxed as a capital gain.
Instead, my brother was able to sell his property and reinvested the proceeds into an investment fund specializing in "opportunity zones" thereby avoid the tax entirely. We're not wealthy by any means and that rental property was sold for just $1.2 million, which isn't much in LA's real estate market.
Thanks to this tax law, my brother didn't lose 20% on the sale proceeds and some poor neighborhood gets to see massive gentrification due to investors like him.
What's the problem?
7
80K in 1970? How many not rich people could afford that, when many could not afford it even now.
7
One may only cuddle, given that $1.2 million. How sad you must be.
1
A tax incentive is luring rich people to pour money in places they wouldn't otherwise go.
Outrageous, right?
No. That's precisely how tax incentives work.
5
For what purpose? To get rich more rich? If so, it definitely achieved this goal. if the goal was to help poor to achieve decent standards of living, it clearly fell well too short.
7
@yulia
I'd love to know how you came to that conclusion. The program's just got started — we wouldn't know about its effectiveness until a few years have passed.
There's a further reason to be angry at real estate tax breaks.
Real estate does not further economic output. In other words, real estate is a place to park money and live off the dividends/capital gains associated with it.
If you provide tax breaks to corporations to produce output of some sort, at least a plausible justification can be found there. Although tax breaks for those deals, such as the Wisconsin foxconn con, are also problematic.
I sent an email to a friend the day after trump got elected. It read: Let the looting begin.
That was the entire message. I have it in my email account storage if you want to check it. This was all so predictable.
18
Well government programs & welfare hasn’t helped these neighborhoods. Might as well let the public sector try.
Tired of tax breaks being called government handouts, they aren’t. Its just a lower tax rate to incentivize investment. Besides it’s not the governments money to begin with.
4
It is the Government money, because it is the Government land. Of should we consider landlords to be a robbers, who take money which doesn't belong to them?
1
Sounds a lot like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, which as it turns out, (Surprise!) is vulnerable to fraud due to lack of oversight and data on costs. (Frontline).
This one even manages to put Wells Fargo and PNC Bank in the crosshairs for scrutiny as to whether they improperly benefitted from this taxpayer program.
16% less qualified units and 66% increased cost to the taxpayers = Fraud (the sequel).
IRS doesn’t require certification (CPA, auditing) of these projects. BTW, the IRS oversees this program for the Feds, and collects your income tax. Sweet deal, huh!
Add to that “Financial institutions are not even trying to make it look as if their opportunity-zone investments were intended to benefit needy communities.”
What an ideal incentive for state and local governments to dip their toes into the corruption pool.
Five, only five names are quoted in the article as seeming to understand the real purpose of the program and are applying their resources to make a difference.
Everyone in or that has ever been in the WH seems to be taking this ball and running with it, including the Kushners and probably the Trumps.
4
Of course we all could have participated in the program. We all could have enjoyed significant reductions in our taxes, we just chose not to. That is what is wonderful about America— it is a land of equal opportunity. Our President is truly making America great again! All we need to have done was to read those six pages of the 2017 tax cut legislation and if we had taken advantage of it we would have been able to partake of the several billions of dollars of tax reductions that the reform provided to investors.
5
Sarcasm?
3
We will also need to have a lot of money to invest that it will have financial sense for this investment. I guess this is the beauty of America - to create the illusion of equal opportunities when only rich actually can use this opportunity.
7
Not sure who among the Trumpists is benefiting from all this, apart from the family and Kushners.
Ben Carson, for example? Any of the clever Trump lawyers who figured out the loopholes so as to avoid doing anything for lower-income folks and line their own pockets?
How about following the money over the next few years to see who REALLY benefited from the “giveaway” to the wealthy??!!
6
Isn't it obvious? The people who jump in it, probably the ones who most benefit from the program. They are rich and can afford the lawyers and accountants who explain them the benefit, not mention the lawmakers who designed the law specifically for them
5
So, are you saying that the system is rigged?
8
This Trumpian pyramid scheme reminds me of the movie, "The Last Black Man in San Francisco". It tells the story of the African American migration to San Francisco at the beginning of WWII to find jobs in the Naval Yards at Hunters Point and the nearby neighborhood of Bayview. Even though there were environmental toxins due to nuclear transport at the Naval base this doesn't stop the swarm of greedy developers much like a swarm of avarice like locusts.
They are using Trump's Opportunity Zone tax breaks to gentrify the formerly affordable black neighborhood of Hunters Point/Bayview to build expensive condos ranging from 500k to millions of dollars. Just like the "ethnic cleansing" of the "Harlem of the West" Fillmore district during the early 70s when developers bulldozed entire black neighborhoods including black owned businesses to make way for cookie cutter, homogenized condos for yuppies. The displaced blacks were then segregated to Richmond, Oakland & Hunters Point.
The movie portrays the hopelessness when a person has no home nor any hope of a decent paying job like his forefathers. With the combination of gig economics, systemic racism & billionaire greed superseding all other values, entire cultural enclaves are destroyed & the poor become poorer while the rich enrich themselves while decrying the deterioration of their beautiful city by the homeless and drug addicted. Trump & his financial acolytes would be happy living in a castle surrounded by a moat.
12
Never mind NOLA. All states have OZs. I looked up opportunity zones and there's one 5 blocks from my house. It has nothing to do with housing or low-income --- it is a warehouse district in the real sense of the term, not gentrified but with light-industry small businesses with perhaps some capital gains to use for token improvements to the area. The city's description is pure puffery. On one hand, it boasts about highway access, and OTOH it says it needs access to fire and emergency services.
This OZ includes the location of the annual International Balloon Fiesta, which some of you may have heard of. The area handles thousands of vehicles daily into and out of the Fiesta Park every year. Seems just right as it is. Making it an OZ sounds like just another white guys' boondoggle to me.
4
There is no "Trump Administration". His Administration are the left overs who will hold on to their jobs anyway they can. I don't know who is "advising" the ruler of the western world, but believe me, they care only for Trump making more money for his portfolio. He needs to be told by the Republican Party to find a way to drop out. If they don't then they need to drop out with him.
7
Most corrupt president ever.
Sad!
11
Republican Translator:
"Poor communities" = "Trendy upscale neighborhoods"
13
Legalized corruption.
11
Of all the delicious comments today from the usual gaggle of Trumpists, laissez-faire capitalists, and Ayn Randies, I think my very bestest favoritest came from the guy who accused the reporters who wrote this excellent article of being mere, “Nattering nabobs of negativism.”
Now that there rang sime bells. “Nattering nabobs, nattering nabobs...now where have I heard that before....? Oh yes, I remember now.”
Spiro T. Agnew. Tasty pick, boys, considering that ol’ Spiro T. blew out of the Vice Presidency one step ahead of a Federal grand jury. Seems he’d literally been taking fat, cashy envelopes for years, and kept it up while he was sitting in his can at Blair House.
Guess what for? Bribes from contractors, including...wait for it, wait for it...in real estate. Of course.
Boy, there was a piece of work. Got disbarred, then tried to hawk used military duds to Saddam Hussein. Wasn’t doing good, borrowed a couple hundred thou from Frank Sinatra, did this, did that, that fnally made some dough selling a thriller that among other things ranted about how a certain VP gone done wrong by a “Jewish cabal.”
As I say, tasty pick, fellas. Works great, given the context.
9
Opportunity Zones from my perspective are the Environment, Infrastructure and Education. Scaramucci that!
7
Once again, the rich get richer feeding at the public trough while the rest of us just try to get along. Move along, nothing to see here, at least nothing new.
10
a “tax break” would be a cap on credit card, student loan and overdraft interest; the one place where banks gouge out the eyeballs of their customers with the greedy approval of the government and media.
8
People ask “Where will the workers in the restaurants, cafes, pet spas, etc live?” Rising real estate values will mean a much longer commute on shoddy public transportation systems.
The wealthy’s answer? Robots!
It will be a boom time for wall building!
8
Look at places like Harrisburg, PA, where the white power elite are doing the same thing around opportunity zones, as is happening within the larger cities.
Harrisburg is over fifty percent African-American and twenty percent Hispanic but development opportunities for members of such groups are slim, indeed.
Furthermore, it is tragic to even examine the paucity of opportunities to work on the construction projects the power political and business class deigns appropriate. The mayor - a democrat- sorta- with significant real estate holdings -
has nothing to say about minority hiring and city council is ineffectual in holding him accountable. The local press is in the pocket of the political class and operates more like a bulletin board at a community center and a mouthpiece for the mayor. This is the way democracy plays out in such places in 2019.
People of color are kept out of the very opportunities the zones purport to promote.
Yet, development goes on in this city and in others.
In such places, black and brown lives do not matter. Money is held by whites who have no incentive or obligation to change the dynamic.
The result: Missed opportunities that will continue to saddle America with angry, disaffected, undereducated and underemployed black and brown people.
We deserve better.
11
When did it become bad in this country to make money if you can find a way to pay less taxes do it.
1
Are these the people that really need tax breaks?
13
Making money by paying less taxes may or may not be wrong, depending on how much someone bends the rules to maximize their savings. That’s not the point here. This is a case where a program which was created with the goal of helping the urban poor was instead exploited by wealthy investors to do nothing more than make even more money. Plain and simple, that’s not right.
11
The problem is an increasingly skewed tax code written by the wealthy to benefit the wealthy. The problem is endless lies about trickledown economics. The problem is a society that values monetary wealth more than things like learning, service, effort, merit, honesty and decency.
11
From the article and some comments, it sounds like this could have been a good idea. The legislation just needed more controls and oversight to ensure that the tax incentives served the purpose for which proponents said they were designed. The 2017 tax bill was rushed through behind closed doors with little discussion and no hearings. It is unsurprising that it contains travesties such as the one described in this article. I wonder what other gems are hidden that we will eventually learn about.
What is so disheartening is these wealthy individuals' eagerness to avoid paying taxes, and the general rush to acquire more and more money. They are like vultures storming a carcass.
13
@CH Everyone wants to acquire more money. You say that like there is something wrong with that concept. It is natural human behavior. The idea is to channel that in a way that benefits the broader community. Which this program does.
1
If these incentives are helping communities with new infrastructure why not address deeper problems by making solar roofs on all buildings mandatory, along with passive heating and passive cooling technology integrated into these new projects! Why not - the intensives seem to be driving a lot of excitement; buy-in should include state of the art energy saving technology mandatory! We should be addressing multiple problems in comprehensive ways, not piece-meal problem solving. Setting standards for businesses to mitigate the energy demands of their buildings will turn luxury development projects into a new lease on the future for us all. This should have been more deeply thought through to include construction practices for a more hopeful future for everyone.
4
As the article states, not all of the projects are gold plated. One appears to have actual social value, not considering who profits as investors.
I am quite familiar with the Tempe, Arizona project referenced in the article. The area is not severely depressed by any measure, but sits in a zone between modest private homes and industrial properties. The property has been noticeable vacant for many years.
Yes, some 50% of the units will be 1 bedroom, target towards students, but it is not luxury in any sense... and it is student demand that is pushing up single family home rentals, as they rent with roommates.
I'm not negating the article, just offering to keep it in perspective.
1
This is so much worse than Teapot Dome. The scale of this corruption is Immense by comparison. But now it’s perfectly legal. They removed from the tax bill accountability for where taxpayer subsidized investments would go. This has nothing to do with risk. Rich investors will rake in plenty from the sale of high end and luxury properties without the need for taxpayers to subsidize their enterprises.
7
"Everybody is on welfare in this country. The problem is that we all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor. That’s the problem." - MLK, Jr.
32
This was an executive order. As such, there was no input from Congress as a whole. It's one of the slickest scams in a long time.
What it will create is yet more of the poorest neighborhoods being consumed by wealthy investors for the land. They'll get little to nothing for their homes. Gentrification and the real estate investors, nationwide, has already eaten into those neighborhoods. But this is not by any means a community development by the individuals living there. It's a government tax scam to leverage prime real estate holdings for wealthy investors, largely to benefit them and no one else except businesses allowed to set up shop with the buildings. Thieves under the cover of "helping poor communities become better"."
Oh, and the middle class will by and large pay for the loss of revenue, possibly permanent..
8
Don't be silly. This is part of the official us tax code passed by Congress.
@TJ
I'm curious where you get your facts from.
It was passed by congress. Then there was a long-drawn and transparent selection process, involving the department of treasury, each of the state governments, and local communities.
If you really want to know how it was done, it's not too difficult to find out.
Don't we, poor American peasants understand how much of a priviledge it is to give to the Chosen Ones?! Its almost a pilgrimage of sorts! Don't poor Americans know that is all the rave in...North Korean!?
13
What a disgusting excuse for the leader of the free world. Now he wants to host the next G7 at his bed-bug ridden Doral Golf Club in order to make big bucks. We can only hope that the members of that group will turn down that "generous offer".
So pathetic that everything he wants to do is in his own self-interest and to line his own pockets. Isn't enough more than enough?
15
Gee is this another violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution? https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-pledged-not-to-use-his-office-to-help-his-business-then-he-pitched-his-florida-club-for-the-next-g-7/2019/08/30/98b353c0-ca7b-11e9-be05-f76ac4ec618c_story.html
9
And so, what else is new? The rich claim they did it on their own. Ha ha ha. What a scam. Nothing new to see here folks.
18
This is not about Trump's economic incompetence. It is about the greedy Republican Party leaders who willingly accepted Russian aid to place in the White House Donald Trump so that he could massively slash taxes for a super-rich oligarchy. The same billionaires own and control the Republican Party. it is all of a piece.
The saddest part of this tragic saga is the undying loyalty of poor and middle class white working Republicans who actually still believe in the "trickle-down" fallacies promoted by the GOP leadership. they along with all Americans pay heavily for this continued fraud.
19
Could there be a better reason than this article to vote for Bernie?
15
What is the intended way that investors should get their returns?
Once they finish building these properties the investors will reap big tax free income from rent, etc.
6
Not true. If you were sufficiently literate you could read what the article said. It said it focuses on capital gains. There is no rental subsidy here whatsoever and all rent will be taxed at full income tax rates.
The developer in chief pulls off a big one for himself and his buddies.
9
Surely this tax law, which was trumpeted by the Trump McConnell Republicans as a program for poor regions and their residents, could and should have been structured so that the lion's share of the benefits did not go to the very rich. The word for that is corruption.
Surely the Trump and Kushner families and their associates should not directly benefit from such a law. That is a blatant violation of the fundamental but uncodified democratic tradition whereby such officials put their assets into a trust. The word is corruption.
This part of the tax law was a lie. Just as the tax cut itself, which was untruthfully called a middle class tax cut, was a lie. The Trump McConnell Republicans are transferring the assets of all Americans into the pockets of the richest Americans including members of this very administration.
19
Believe me there are many rich Democrats they will also benefit from this program. Bottom line is if you don't let people with money use their money to make money in the United States that money will disappear to other countries where the laws will allow people to make money without being subjected to this nonsense.
@Unhappy JD
Thanks for your reply. I'm a bit puzzled by it. This tax law was Republican. This administration which did not divest and is making private money from their own tax law is Republican. Yes, any rich person can benefit but that is not what I am complaining about per se. By "nonsense" you seem to be referring to taxes. Who will pay for roads, schools, airports, safe food, etc. if we don't have taxes?
7
Please understand that you need money to build. If you have no collateral, you get no money from the bank. As much as rich people are vilified in this country, we do not want the government giving us money and telling us where and how to build. If you think we have trouble now, just wait until one of these foolish presidential candidates gets in and dictates how much space you can have, where you can live , what you can wear, what you can eat and how much heating and cooling you are allowed to have.
It is a nastily slippery slope indeed.
In fact go ahead and see the movie Dr. Zhivago. I watch it every once in a while to remind me how dangerous communism and socialism are.It tells the true story of the meaning of the Russian revolution in 1917. Dr. Zhivago left to fight for the White Russian army leaving behind a beautiful home in Moscow. The first time he goes home to his home, it had been commandeered by the Bolsheviks and he was allotted several rooms in which to live, in his own home. When he came home finally from the revolution, he was allotted 250 ft.² in his own home. If you don't believe me watch the movie. It will have tremendous meaning given where we are in the world right now. It is not a pretty picture to allow socialism and these haters to prevail over capitalism. Even in her own misguided way, Senator Elizabeth Warren understands this. She has $12 million betweens her and her husband to prove it.
Seems the beneficiaries of this scheme are all wealthy white men. Except for Ivanka Trump, of course. Or am I missing something?
13
The article implies that most wealthy investors have sold assets and paid capital gains; and the new law eliminates those taxes. Not so. Capital gain taxes have been avoided by not selling. The new law offers an incentive to sell, with the result that some tax will in fact get paid (after 7 years). This is better than no tax getting paid. And even if assets are used to build luxury projects only close to poor areas, the construction will provide jobs for nearby residents. The new law may not be perfect, but is better than the status quo.
1
There is no incentive to sell. They can lease space out and make tax free income from that. This is one huge tax shelter for very wealthy people.
7
@Steve Johnson, you did not read the article.
1
How credulous does one have to be to believe that this wasn't the intended result all along?
8
Bottom line: Buildings no one needs.
6
So of the 4000 project plan are you sure there's not one building that anybody needs in that grouping?
Many of use got tax hikes as Trump, rich and wall street pocketed trillions of tax cuts.
11
This is the essence of the supply-side approach to housing: let us build more and the benefits will trickle down. The problem of course is as usual, the benefits never do trickle down if the units are price-controlled. There will be more tax revenue, but if it isn't specifically directed towards housing vouchers or specifically price-controlled units, the benefits flow to the bottom lines of the developers.
8
What about all the people that got to start new businesses in these buildings? What about all the people that made money contracting and working construction on these new buildings? What about all of the utility companies that expanded their base and therefore could hire more employees to help run their business? I think this article is perceived in exactly the wrong way. Whenever we have growth and construction no matter who provides the funds, it is usually over the long run good for our economy.
Do we want government to decide who is going to build? Moreover do we want government building for us and telling us what we need? No matter what I still think that private enterprise with incentives is better than putting up low-cost housing developments that look like Russia.
2
The housing in Russia is far better built than luxury buildings circa 2019 in US. You’re missing the criticism of the law. Look at North Brooklyn, NY. The area referred to as the North Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone has been designated an OZ. Why? Because it’s on the up and up. Netflix, HBO, NBC, on and on...are there. It is a booming place. And, many have been displaced by the gentrification. If you follow the logic, at some point we all have to ask where do poor people live? Where do they work? All development is pitched for higher development, higher salaries and higher property values. When exactly do you look at the problems created by this trend? Growing poverty
1
“The housing in Russia.”
Wow.
All tax breaks are naturally going to benefit the wealthy, they are the ones who actually pay the taxes, I know it does not fit the political narrative but the poor do not really pay taxes. It is a simple matter of math the more you have the more of a break you get.
3
As a simple matter of math, the more you have, the more tax you should pay. This is especially true for capital gains, which are not a product of actual labor. It makes no sense to me that capital gains are not taxed in an equivalent manner to wage taxes.
14
There is risk associated with capital investments, with wages, none. And capital gains are not indexed for inflation.
The risk with being an employee who works for wages is that the employer can lay off or fire at will. Having a job one day is no guarantee that one will have a job the next, or a week later, or a year later. Being an employee in this country entails nothing but risk, since employees have very little control or say-so over their own futures.
2
The Opportunity Zone law was supposed to apply to real estate purchased after the law was enacted. However, lawyers across the country have found ways to circumvent that stipulation.
On December 22, 2017, the day Trump signed the Tax Cut bill, of which Opportunity Zone was included, is there any reason exactly why the country, and probably the world, shouldn't picture real estate guys Trump and Mnuchin sitting in the decorated for Christmas Oval Office going over a list of real estate purchases made by their friends and family, as they quietly chortle to themselves?
11
"How a Trump Tax Break to Help Poor Communities Became a Windfall for the Rich"
No, really? Say it ain't so.
There is apparently no limit to the corruption of good ole Murica, from top to bottom. I don't even know why it makes news anymore.
15
I would like to see the details of how many perks have been given to these developers.
Here in Glen Cove, NY, we have a development pushed through City Hall (in a hushed up meeting 3 days before Thanksgiving) that bound the City to build up a previous Superfund Site with residential housing. After years of back and forth changes, the 'Luxury Housing' is going up.-Though it comes with generous tax breaks that the citizens of our City will have to bear for decades to come, as well as a waterfront that will probably be off limits to the general public.
11
But blame it on evil corporations, not government that refuses to be limited and refuses equal protection under the law.
3
No, blame it on greedy speculators lacking in integrity who are proficient in getting tax codes written in a way that permits circumventing the law’s stated purpose to their exorbitant benefit.
14
@David When oh when will corporations and the wealthy in this country ever get a break, please.
1
Hey guys, plenty of blame to go around!
And that includes the minority of actual voters who swallow this malarkey as something that's good for the fast-fading segment of our country called the middle-class.
3
Thanks you for this important article about how our economy really works and for whom. I hope you will follow up on this to see if substantial investments ever reach those who need them. I won't hold my breath!
But regardless whether substantial funds eventually reach the needy, there should be no tax breaks for the kinds of investments featured in this article. Not only does this make the undeserving wealthy richer, but it robs the public coffers of resources, which will lead to more calls from those wealthy elites to cut services for the poor and middle classes.
8
nothing new. " a specter will be haunting the u.s.a" " a single match sparks a prairie fire" nothing new here..another match has been struck.
2
Why would you think this isn’t working exactly as designed? There is ample reason not to take the “this is to help the poor” sales pitch at face value.
10
Very sneaky using populations of college students to inflate unemployment statistics! College towns are usually where there is wealth and a steady demand for rental properties with high turnover and short lettings.
6
Former tax law: Your gains are taxed unless you give them away to charity. Or not taxed while in in IRA, but taxed when withdrawn. Or not taxed at death, but taxed as estate taxes. New law: When gains are not taxed, you have the use of the money (Not possible before). And, even if they qualify because of helping to erase poverty, that might not even be true.
This breaks fresh ground for tax avoidance.
7
Interesting article. I looked up the Opportunity Zones map for Detroit and the largest swaths border the Detroit Riverfront. This is already much sought-after real estate. From what I've read, the city's revitalization has pushed it's low-income residents to the outer edges, in particular, to the west side, which is not a lovely neighborhood. I hope some "investments" are made there as well.
9
@MD
Here in NYC, Michael Bloomberg, as mayor, rezoned most of the acreage along the East River from manufacturing to residential. Now the entire stretch, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Queens is one unbroken wall of glass luxury condos. With this action, Bloomberg accomplished two of his goals, buying the admiration of his inbred cronies in the real estate industry, and the elimination of thousands of potential high-tech manufacturing jobs, about the only place where non-college graduates would stand a chance of making a rewarding middle class living.
Boutique manufacturing is ripe for a renaissance in this city, if only to meet the insatiable luxury needs of its vapid upper class but it has now been corralled into a couple of, bursting-at-the-seams theme parks. Ultimately, Bloomberg would have liked to have seen the whole city turned into one big glass menagerie, filled just with wealthy whites. Don't let the charitable giving fool you; to Bloomberg its only chump change. The man is no less an egomaniac than Trump.
3
Of importance now is the designation of North Brooklyn IBZ as an OZ. I can’t stand Bloomberg but the manufacturing proposals for the waterfront were not exactly great. One was a waste transfer Station and a powerplant. “Manufacturing” in Brooklyn was sold out long ago. Tech and tv show production on the other hand are booming.
This conversation about tax breaks for the rich, the sort of rich and for the maybe not so rich, is almost comical in that it tries to lead the reader into believing that only Republicans can be classified as being rich. Democrats on the other hand are all the struggling class barely able to make ends meet and absolutely suffering under the Trump administration. It is just Democrats who are effected by high taxes, increased costs due to inflation, trade wars, and the high cost of education.
I have a suggestion for one of the esteemed opinion writers of the N.Y. times, Write an expose on the wealth of the Democratic leadership, and perhaps the cadre of Presidential hopefuls so we can see how they obtained that wealth, what their charitable philosophy is, and where their children went to college and how they qualified for acceptance.
The other aspect of this conversation is that the ruling class of the Democratic Party always cite the 1%ers and the rich as being the bane of America but they never define wealthy. Who are they talking about? Millionaires? Having a million dollars today is not an excessive amount of money, I know farmers and business people who have a net worth of that or more. May be the wealthy are people that own their own home with a few acres, two cars, and can afford to take a vacation every year. My point is that most of loyal Democrats probably fall under the definition of wealthy that your party is doing their best to vilify.
2
@Fred: Yes, there are both wealthy Democrats and wealthy Republicans, but it was the Republicans who pushed through this latest tax giveaway to the wealthy. It is Republicans who continue to push the fallacy of trickledown economics. It was a Republican president, Donald J. Trump, who predictably lied that the GOP tax cuts would not benefit him personally.
9
That's two-hundred words of "whataboutism" that makes no comment on the story at all.
3
You took a lot of words to deflect from the topic at hand. Nothing to do with the article.
Why are the criminals still in power? Is our constitution so flimsy that the nation can't remove an incompetent and corrupt president from office? Don't they care what he is doing to the nation? Soldiers die for the country but the politicians stand there and watch how Trump destroys the nation while he fills his pockets.
Only the newly elected democratic young women have the courage to speak up. The Republican men and women are just dead bodies, not a peep from them.
14
What was that about draining the swamp?
14
What ever happened to "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"? Such inspirational words...
12
Don’t you people understand that only wealthy people can build and finance economic development the poor cannot
6
If only that were true. There is no benefit if it ends up fanning speculative forces and gentrification. The Opportunity Zones are not designed incentives for affordable housing and other needed improvements.
15
@Gustavo
How about you personally? Benefitting or just knee jerk defending those with capital and their intentions to hold onto it?
2
What have you got to lose? You'd almost think that the system is rigged.
5
Oh! Now I get it.
To help low-income AREAS.
Nothing to do with the people living in those areas.
How...clever.
23
Nothing to see here. Just move along.
So I guess, after his presidency, unlike his predecessor, Trump won’t be signing a $70 million book deal that no one will read?
4
@Bhaskar — I assume this comment is supposed to be another clever ‘oh yeah, well what about...’. Trust me, it fell flat as a pancake, like all of the other right-wing ‘whatabouts.’
Here’s the fundamental truth: when conservatives talk about ‘public/private partnerships’ and ‘privatization’ of government functions, it simply boils down to taking the tax dollars collected from the working class and shifting a substantial portion of those dollars back to wealthy individuals and corporations in the form of profits. The profits are then granted favorable tax treatment, and thus is the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few subsidized by the many.
If that’s your idea of good public policy, so be it. Just say so. But do not try to hide behind yet another ‘what about’ smoke screen. Our vision remains clear.
28
I’m not sure why it needs to be explained to the true-blue small government, free market types that there’s a fat whale of a big difference between selling something you made for as much as you can legally get, and getting into office so you can rewrite the tax laws, divert oublic funds, and grab a zillion dollars.
8
@Robert
A kickback is a kickback.
Calling it a "book deal" doesn't make it any legit.
Even if that was paid after retirement for allowing the drug companies to write the health care bill, for instance.
Typical GOP more we’ll fare for the rich . Scrap the fake electoral college so we Dems get a fair deal in our Democracy.
4
The story hasn’t changed since Scrooge and Daddy Warbucks. Thank God for poets and song:
“Ev'ry morning, ev'ry evening
Ain't we got fun?
Not much money, Oh, but honey
Ain't we got fun?
The rent's unpaid dear
We haven't a bus
But smiles were made dear
For people like us
In the winter in the Summer
Don't we have fun
Times are bum and getting bummer
Still we have fun
There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get children
In the meantime, in between time
Ain't we got fun?”
Songwriters: Raymond B Egan / Gus Kahn / Richard A Whiting
Ain't We Got Fun lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Peermusic Publishing
11
@Thomas
Oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz All my friends all have Porsches i must make amends ....
No wonder Janis Joplin didn’t fit in in Port Arthur Tx
4
The social cost of cutting taxes on large corporations is being paid by low-income American families and the Latino community 🌪⛈📉💲
5
@Jhon you're partly correct. It's being paid by 99% of us. In other words all those who aren't extremely rich.
1
25 percent of these luxury apartment s should be set aside for working class people.
2
What else does one expect from these money-grubbing rich people? Actual opportunity for anyone who is not as rich as them? HAH!
Here in Columbus, Ohio, in the downtown area, notoriously filled with poorer people, they're now building 'affordable' housing - apartments for ~only~ $5,000.00 a month. I'd bet just about anything they are being built with OZ money.
This is disgusting.
15
Duh! It was from the beginning just a giveaway to the rich. That’s the true Rep platform: We will give more money to the rich. Period. But that would only garner a few votes, so they throw in the pro-life and pro-gun stuff, plus a little something for bigots and racists, and voilà! You’ve got a base that consists of the selfish ultra-wealthy, voting in their interests. And a whole lot of poor to middle-class people voting against their interests, though they don’t know it.
14
How disgusting. Truly fitting of the con man in chief who continues to prove that he is in this for his own profits. What a joke our current administration is. Of course, the poor and middle class will suffer and be at the mercy of the wealthy.
6
I notice that many of these projects are located in areas that will be submerged by melting in the polar regions.
3
@walkman
Ah, well, then.
Perhaps the luxury condos should go ahead after all. It'd be karmic when the rising water level submerges their parking lot and the first five stories.
1
No accident. Trump knew that urban renewal always helps the rich with lots of capital and always displaces the poor and those with fewer assets. It’s happened in New York City, many times, and his family has benefitted from it.
12
We need to invest money into these communities that allow the local residents to benefit and improve their homes. How about cash grants towards down payments for existing residents and renters to refinance or purchase their properties and fix them up.
I’m so tired of opportunistic investors flipping and displacing low income residents.
We must do better.
9
The social cost of cutting taxes on large corporations is being paid by low-income American families 📉💲🌪
9
Pure. Unmitigated. Unadulterated. Transparent. Corruption.
Trump is the poster boy. And a bigger, more pompous, boorish, elitist snob this country has never produced.
Perhaps the GOP can get Martin Shkreli to run in 2024?
11
America is a corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarch welfare nation by nature and nurture.
The federal income tax code provides deductions, credits, subsidies and lower tax rates.
But only for certain industries, individuals, transactions, sources of income, business entity structures, contracts and securities favored by special interests lobbyists buying legislative, executive and judicial complicity and conspiracy.
The federal income tax code is a license to steal from the poor and middle class by rich robbing hoods like the barbarian Neanderthal organized crime families like the Trump Organization.
What is legal in America is what should embarrass and shame Americans.
Is it pitchforks and torches decimation time in the new gilded age robber baron malefactors of great wealth America era?
11
NYT has made an issue of reforms in Capital Gains Tax introduced by President Trump.That is how Capital Gains Tax works across the globe.If a government wants investment directed at some section of the population or a depressed urban area, then this is the only way.If NYT or an economist can suggest a new way,let us hear of it.
Take India.In the biggest cities of Bombay and Delhi,there are said to be 1million or more un-sold housing units.This has sent the real estate sector into a depression.The unsold 1 million houses have also ruined a number of real estate firms.
Now our government is scampering around to find ways to stave of a recession.The Indian govt blames the recession on international causes.But the real cause it is it’s own tax policy.
I don’t say that President Trump has introduced the new tax laws for great moral reasons.But by allowing construction in depressed urban areas or”opportunity” areas, he has created employment, raised values in urban areas, increased economic activity.
Governments like India are too conservative and timid in using the Capital Gains Tax for economic betterment.Along with Japan,India has one of the highest savings rates.But people hide their money as they feel threatened by high taxes or”Tax Terrorism” as we call it in India.
NYT seems to worry that famous investors are set to gain.Maybe so,but that does not account spin-off benefits from TrumpTax reliefs.They might help the rich.But the spinoffs are great and we should welcome it
3
@Dr.Pentapati Pullarao "They might help the rich". They Do help the rich; that is the point. Tax Dollars would be better spent in infrastructure projects like road building; Dams;etc. Shotgunning money into the rich and expecting trickle down to the poor is the GOP Scam 101
12
I do not have the expertise to know whether there is a moral outrage here or another journalistic hit piece. But I am quite certain that most rich people care very little about poor and average people. Until we have meaningful restructuring of the way people gain access to material goods and services we will have very little real improvement in the lives of most .
7
Is this in any way surprising? Donny always does what's good for himself or his friends.
6
The low income housing tax credit, enacted in 1986 was truly a program designed to benefit low-income and middle class people by giving investors incentives to invest in the construction of low income housing. The current opportunity zone program is an "opportunity" for the rich to make a killing. No wonder the Trump administration loves the idea.
7
Greed (noun). example: "“When you are a founder of Facebook, and you own a lot of stock,” Mr. Parker said at a recent opportunity-zone conference, “you spend a lot of time thinking about capital gains.”
4
Yeah, the greedy Facebook guy got my attention more than anything. He didn’t pay zilch for those shares.
The tax breaks benefit only the rich.
The developments benefit on the rich and serve only the rich.
The poor and middle class are hard by the higher rents and housing costs from effects of gentrification from these developments.
This program is a form of parasitism - and the capitalists are the parasites.
7
The real problem is, as the President has said, the incompetence and corruption of the local democratic officials in the “ rundown rat infested cities” that should be encouraging investors to help the poor. Instead like the EOZ’s in upstate NY the dems and their cronies are just robbing the poor and lining their pockets.
2
Lol, upstate NY is about as depressed and Republican as it gets. They need an OZ!
The 'businessman' president is looking out for those like him. The ones below gets what is trickle down, if any. Sounds familiar?
2
This is the equivalent of predatory lending. The only entree into the game are commercial real estate entities and investment bankers, like Mitt Romney. This is why many people, including Romney, rushed to the open sewer that is the Republican party right now; the new “Robber Barons.” They pass laws that suit their greed and take more. There used to be a two year abstention period for anyone who wanted to profit from their time in government, like a relative of mine. Now, apparently, if you own the Treasury, it is a free for all.
It is corrupt, and Banana Republic behavior and is happening right out in the open. The standards of morality have shifted in this country and only these two gamers are playing. The question is, are we going to stand for it or become Venezuela, a despotic and corrupt government and certainly not “socialism;” the latter would imply having the people’s welfare at heart.
7
Another corporate kick-back for corporate giants, investment firms and the disgustingly rich. Offices, warehouses and luxury development displace the low income locals. When will we realize that there will always be poor to the detriment of all unless we do something FOR THEM.
8
It is called predatory capitalism, bringing the blessings of a deregulated market economy and as little or no government as possible, so much better than socialism.
What could be better than that? Our intellectual and morally bankrupt elite is in high heaven, Trump is their Messiah.
5
So what do we do as a nation? Clearly with the news reports coming out of several journalistic entities with credible gravitas there is clear and unrelenting facts of our current leader’s misdemeanors through out his leadership and business life.
Do we create a mass day of protest and stop business for a day? Do we flood the White House with Letters ala “ Miracle on 34th Street”? Do we do a week of no television? That has been done before in the sixties so not unprecedented. Do we refuse to buy anything from the stores for three days?
Do we go silent on Twitter? Do we wear T-shirts everywhere that say I am an Immigrant too?
Do the golf courses everywhere on earth go empty for a week?
Do we go dark as a nation every night once a week? WW II set a precedent for this when the neighborhood warden would make sure lights out for every house during assigned black out periods.
We ALL could work together on any of these projects. If not now when? If not you who?
Do we paint mailboxes purple in protest?
5
I'm a tax lawyer, and this article misses the point. Rich investors aren't getting anything. The investors in these projects are overpaying -- one academic article says land prices went up 20% in QOZ areas. So why pay a (temporary) 20% premium for land, plus big fees to promoters and lawyers, plus make a hasty (= bad?) investment decision, just to avoid *part* of a capital gain tax of 23.3% fed + x% state?
The smart view is reflected in this quote from a Tax Notes article on June 28. "Opportunity Zones have created a bidding war for real estate that’s led to funds overpaying for
property just to save investors some tax dollars down the road. * * * '[This] kind of speaks to the bad economics of the whole thing,' he said, adding that it didn’t make much sense to overpay for property just to save on taxes and then possibly lose money."
Get your tax advice from ProPublica or Tax Notes, not the New York Times.
4
@ Dave Anderson
You’re missing the point. A tax break that was pitched as helping low-income, economically-disadvantaged areas is being used to finance developments aimed at the well-to-do in areas that have already turned around financially, while the true poor areas are neglected. That this happened during a Trump Adminstration is no surprise. Income inequality continues to grow. (Time to elect Elizabeth Warren.)
9
This and other supposed middle class tax cuts weren’t an accident. There were no public hearings. Democratic lawmakers were given scant time to review legislation before hurried votes. They bypassed Senate filibuster rules, and the need for any Democratic votes, by using reconciliation.
But there were feverish partisan meetings behind the scenes and demands from wealthy contributors for massive tax cuts. No doubt every Republican with a favor to call in was on the phone to Trump cronies and the bill writers asking for specific provisions.
Meanwhile, spinmeisters were working up their sales pitches and media plans to fool the public. After all, you can’t pull off a major US Treasury heist without a lot of propaganda and the pretense of rationality.
So we have yet another section of the ‘Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’ to roll back when Dems get control, hopefully with a large clawback provision.
4
This tax break is an excellent example of the old saying "if your only tool is a hammer every problem looks like a nail. For about 40 years now, Republicans and also "New Democrats" (people like Clinton and Biden from the 80's) have exclusively used tax policy that encourages investment to solve all economic problems. The thinking is that if you have a poor city, you encourage rich people to invest there. After all, rich people have the money to invest and they love getting tax breaks.
The problem is this solution never actually helps the poor people living in the poor town. Those people just get pushed out to make way for the new development. It isn't hard to see why. Those rich people making investments want a return and poor people are not a good market for that.
I believe this continuous cycle of fixing problems by given rich people more and more incentives is one of the primary reasons the US is seeing a rise in populism. After all, both parties seem to only do things that are good for the rich.
10
Re: Atlantic City.
2
@itsmildeyes I suspect that if everyone replied with an example they remember we'd break the Internet.
4
Trump's agenda has become so blatantly obvious to a growing number of Americans that even the word "populist" -- one of the most absurd adjectives to describe him -- has disappeared from mainstream media narratives. If voters are voting for more jobs and a stronger economy that benefits the poor and the working class, I have no idea why they would vote for any Republican, especially Trump.
7
When tax breaks are given to those who need them the least, that causes a shortfall in government revenue. So the GOP will cut services to the people who need them the most, or raise the taxes of people who can least afford a tax raise. The 1% get richer and richer, and they don't even have to break a sweat. Those of us doing honest work get robbed.
19
Criminal. One of the reasons civilizations fall. Extreme socio-economic inequality, lax enforcement to reign in avarice, absence of courage to create a Just society, lack of resolution to create a higher moral foundation upon which to build a national culture. The sorry story of the Guilded Age repeating itself.
14
Trump's Republican tax cut was touted as a "middle class" tax cut. It has turned out to be a tax cut for the rich. This only shows that the rich are reaping more than anyone knew. Just as Trump and the GOP planned. As for the middle class and the poor, not so much!
8
This 'tax break' is a license to gentrify. It will displace low income folks with developments none can afford and eliminate the housing that they could, even as rent in low income areas is already high. Call it crony capitalism or socialism for the rich, it's a scam that will benefit the already wealthy. Consider the source.
3
Thanks to NYT for the excellent reportage. I managed "Enterprise Zones" as an ec dev professional for a dozen years - it is tricky to make tax incentives like these geographically-defined zones truly cost-effective at helping the people who need help.
The fundamental question for a tax incentive system is whether something good will happen that wouldn't otherwise. I see little evidence in this opp zone program that things will happen that wouldn't otherwise happen.
Second, this program is basically a trickle down program - i.e. if new real estate investment occurs in or near poor areas, poor people will benefit enough that taxes should be reduced on the investments. Trickle-down sometimes happens but without targeted effort/requirements to train and employ the poor and address the problems the poor face, the tax investments aren't that helpful, and can instead exacerbate gentrification that drives poor people out to low-cost decaying suburbs, or further.
At the least, these opportunity zones should have requirements for local organizations that serve poor people to gain equity stakes in the new investments - helping deliver an ongoing stream of revenues to address actual-on-the-ground challenges people face, as determined by local leaders. Further, requirements for local training and hiring and help for dealing with gentrification should also be included.
Maybe it can be fixed over time. ??
2
So many comments here that only the rich developers and well-off tenants will benefit. This is from the cITY New Rochelle web page:
"The City has passed affordable housing legislation for new private developments requiring minimum set-asides of affordable units or a payment into an Affordable Housing Fund used to construct new units."
And without the program, how many affordable units would have been developed? ZERO.
4
@Erik The rich got richer; the price for affordable housing is too high. Change the system; vote out pro Big Business Republicans. Vote out corrupt Trump and his cronies. Vote Blue no matter who.
3
@ Eric
Call me when that finally happens. When the poor actually see results.
5
So, what are the local city ordinances and laws for building in opportunity zones? Are redevelopment measures (and oversight measures) in place to insure affordable units are built and offered within the newly developed buildings? How are local building ordinances writen and enforced in cities across America, and what impact does this "windfall" for wealthy investors have if any, on enforcement of same? I wonder if people who have direct knowledge of the impact in other cities can weigh in.
1
This is the American way, doesn't make a difference where it comes from or what it is intended to do, it climbs upward. Aside from a few brief decades after WW2, its never been any different and never will be.
5
With billions to be made and saved ... if you build it, it will gentrify.
(With these incentives, there'll be money enough that an "opportunity zone" in Brownsville, Brooklyn or East St. Louis, IL will be an opportunity to 'throw the bums out' and make 'them' into 5th Avenues-on-the-Park -- and below 96th -- and Lake Forests.)
3
It seems some Republicans have no issues whatsoever with socialism.
8
This article would be a whole lot more edifying if the author had investigated how the opportunity zones were obviously misidentified. That process smells of corruption. Wealthy people lawfully exploiting advantageous tax legislation sounds like good business strategy.
4
Just because it’s legal does not make it moral, even (or especially?) when money is involved. When did our country reach the point where a profit motive excused any moral flaw?
4
The problem is that they create their own laws for personal profits. Making matters worse it’s only good business strategy for themselves, not the community that is supposed to benefit from the tax break as well. It’s “I win, you lose”strategy
1
Reality Check eventually poor will benfit. Besides rich have expenses too not getting any richer as dallor devalues. Those millions are not of same value as was 5 years ago. So in reality rich acyually losing more then rich ,go figure. Poor have nothing to loose if dont have anything first place.
Gentrification and displacement is the point. Trump sees cities as full of people he disdains and wants them replaced by fewer numbers of his own kind. Our taxes pay for his hate.
6
Same old same old.
Bet you won’t find Trump whining about the international elites renting out his fancy complexes and spending 1 day in them a year, driving up the rest of our rent.
No, it’s only bad to be an immigrant if you’re poor in his mind. Despicable.
7
To Trump it is bad for you to be alive (immigrant or otherwise) if you are poor. Wait - unless you vote for him. But, even then, please stay away from him.
The entire Trump family is a wasteland. #1 motivation is to enrich themselves. A full time marketing department handles the smoke and mirrors to make them look like they care.
The entire Trump family are lifelong criminals who believe they deserve to get rich off the back of hard working lower and middle class Americans.
Washington DC is full of criminals just like the Trumps, taking advantage of Americans, never having enough as they gorge themselves in riches, power and inflated egos while average Americans try to get by.
18
"Tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are."
"When you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas."
I've run out of aphorisms to describe this, but you know what I mean.
6
I am shocked, shocked! to hear etc etc etc
4
Trickle down strikes again.
3
To quote that wise philosopher and lawyer from Australia, Midnight Oil lead singer Peter Garrett:
"The rich get richer/
The poor get the picture."
2
10,000 recommends.
1
Anything and everything Donald Trump does is designed to either benefit him or his 1%er supporters........
To believe otherwise is sheer folly and ignores this President's self-serving agenda.......
7
How are his voters so ignorant as to not see this point?
NYTs, you are missing the point. Capital gains taxes tend to keep money on the sidelines - investors with capital gains tend to hold on to those investments and thus never pay ANY taxes. This is called Stranded Capital and is largely unproductive. The tax incentive fosters investment in "opportunity zones" by releasing the otherwise stranded capital.
The mechanics of the program are sound - it is not necessarily a handout to the rich. You may take exception with whether the "opportunity zones" are well thought out or achieving their intended goal and this is indeed worthy of a discussion. But please stop with the "handout to the rich" narrative. It is a distraction and not a productive use of the NYTs talents.
139
@Richard
Theories about economics and the day to day reality are quite different. You are discussing theories, NOT the reality.
111
@Richard I don't see where your definition of "stranded capital" addresses the point of the article: namely, that un-stranding the capital is leading to massive gentrification, not to anything that benefits the less-advantaged in the target communities.
192
@Richard You're right in one sense: the term "handout" implies that the recipient actually NEEDS it.
And what's the point of releasing "stranded capital" if the companies/people with said capital will only spend it to make more money for themselves and STILL avoid paying taxes as much as possible? Unless having rich people as the exclusive beneficiaries of such schemes (on either side of the equation) is all that matters to you. Because that's ALL that matters to Trump et al.
165
This outcome was predicted from the start, so what's surprising?
“The early wave, that’s not what you judge” ....
Why the heck not? !!!!!
Are we supposed to wait until every penny, that was supposed to help the less fortunate, has been frittered away as a socialist payout to a few billionaires (including the President's family)?
And for once, why can't these billionaires take it upon themselves to develop these areas? Don't they know how to make money without a government handout, and isn't it enough to get the tax write-off when their projects fail? Lord knows we already subsidize billionaire developers to the point where they pay no taxes for an entire generation.
If these subsidized luxury developments do become profitable, how about having the developers pay back the incentives, "for taking the risk"?
Funny how to Republicans government can only create jobs when that same hated government creates a billionaire's club socialist program slush fund.
7
Everything Trump has done in office has been a money-making scam for himself, his family and his wealthyt friends. The "opportunity zones" in this case include yet another opportunity to pad the bank accounts of Jared and Ivanka.
3
“The tax break is largely benefiting the real estate industry — where Mr. Trump made his fortune and still has extensive business interests — and it is luring people with personal or professional connections to the president.”
No wonder the corruption class wants to keep President Useful Idiot in office. And might be interesting if someone at the next debate asks Senator Booker why he supported this loophole laden bill.
6
This entire law seems to be created in the interest of real estates developers. The law had a weird stipulation that all the zone had to be selected in only 90 days after the law's enactments. This seems like a very short time to properly identify the zones which would serve the public the best and allowed no time for public comment and discussion. How were these zones selected since clearly the public could not meaningfully be involved with their selection? The state of Michigan is notorious for its lack of transparency and it is highly unlikely the state could select 288 location in only 90 days without help from special interests. The process was run by the same governor that thought it could run the City of Flint's water system and the City of Detroit's school system. With these as performance benchmarks, one can guess how much care was given to selecting the opportunity zones. One last thing, if you search for "opportunity zones" on Google, Kushner's Cardre company is at the top of the search. So much for the claim Google discriminates against the trump administration.
4
They've really got us coming and going, don't they?
4
Not to worry. By the time the lowly peasants see the benefits of these luxury condos and hotels, most of these places will be underwater thanks to global warming.
3
When so much of this country's capital is in the hands of so few there is nothing the middle class or the poor can do to stop them from investing in whatever they think will make them more money. If that means destroying the character of neighborhoods and cities, or pushing more people into homeless camps, they don't care; that's progress. It's a dilemma that seems to have no solution, unless somehow, suddenly, this nation finds leadership with a social conscience and the moral strength to resist the enticement of big money.
3
It's clear intended beneficiaries are ultra-rich investors, not low income people in disadvantaged communities. Of programs that use tax breaks as incentives, even those designed with the best intentions should be greeted with skepticism & intense scrutiny to assure they really work for the professed public benefit. This program does not even pass the smell test. There are better ways to do this sort of thing. This program does not even try. Where's the due diligence to assure projects already committed don't qualify? Where's the careful targeting to assure the people and places who need employment or affordable housing get it? Where are the protections for residents not being priced out of their own neighborhoods? Where's the affordable housing requirement for residential projects? Where's the local hiring requirements? Where's the rigorous evaluation plan to show, years from now, who really benefits and it what ways?
None of that in this program. Just a phony branding of a tax giveaway for the ultra-rich to make it look like it will do some good for poor communities. It's massive enough that there will be some anecdotal good-sounding stories Republicans will point to. But overall, it will do more harm than good, certainly not worth the cost to the federal debt, and no evaluation to show the overall costs & benefits.
3
Infested by rats.
Is Trump grouping human beings into the category he calls "rats" when he uses the term "rat-infested"?
Is anyone who happens to be less wealthy than Trump or doesn't subordinate themselves to Trump, sub-human, a rat, or some other not-rich-enough-to-care-about inferior whose sole purpose of existence is to serve Trump?
Would everyone and everything he groups into this category not be alive if Trump had HIS way?
Is that one thing the word "nasty" means when Trump assigns that label to someone. He frequently uses that term to describe women that don't bend to his will.
Is Trump as bad of a person as he sounds?
Is he worse?
1
The rich get richer. What’s news about that?
3
Hmm... seems like some peak something going on. Synergies of big somethings fixing tax rules. Complex sleight of hand. Trumpian in its unaccountability.
2
The Gilded Age - circa 21st Century - is in full bloom. And we have the oligarchs and the pluocrats to prove it.
5
It is interesting how in response to these kinds of articles and gov't practices, the issue of taxes rises to the top like scum on a pond.
The biggest "free stuff" give-aways by the Federal gov't goes to the business and corporate interests who've bought the Congress (and thus, legislation and rule-making) with their bribes, uh, I mean campaign "contributions."
We need more wealth taxes. Maybe a 2% annual tax on fortunes both private and corporate. As one way had it, even if the 1% pay 49% Federal Income Tax on income over $2 million per year, they'd still be in the 1%.
1
Yeah, well, the same may be said—and is with increasing frequency—of fundamental decency.
I wonder if I am the only one who noted that no women appear on this list. Hmmm..not to mention People of Color. Another opportunity not open to women. Building and development is so far behind the times as are financial opportunities for women in OZ. How ironic. And a damn shame.
3
In looking at today's online front page of the NYT especially related to the ongoing democracy protests in Hong King. I couldn't help but think that if by chance Trump and the Republicans were somehow able to find a way to get re-elected in 2020, in order to have any chance of saving whatever might be left of democracy in America, Americans better be prepared to do the same thing that is occurring in Hong Kong.
8
Primo Levi, Italian writer and Holocaust survivor created an important concept: unnecessary pain. There is pain during birth. Inherent in this natural process. There is/can be the pain post surgery. Part of healing.
There is the spiritual pain experienced by believers who pray for, not preying on...as exists all too often...to a God who “chooses” to be absent. For whatever reasons. There is the pain of the anxiety and panic attacks; whatever it’s etiology. There is the pain of loss. Sense of identity. Home.Endless types, levels and qualities of pains. Temporary and more permanent ones. Man-made as well as unrelated to the violating words, voiced and written, and human done-deeds. All existing within the existential dimensions of interacting uncertainties. Unpredictabilities. Randomness. Lack of total control notwithstanding one’s efforts. Timely or not. Alone as well as with others. Necessary pains co-existing with unnecessary pains. So too, perhaps one can consider profiting. The profits causing or associated with unnecessary harms to...The creation of profits, whatever their dimensions, qualities, types and levels that are
“harmless” to living organisms. To environments. To norms, values and ethics which underpin menschlichkeit. Unrealistic? Perhaps as realistic as complacently accepting profiting, agendaed individual and systemic stakeholders. Perhaps as realistic as being willfully indifferent to the political profiting of the premeditated murder of sick immigrant kids!
4
The only thing shocking about this is that it is no longer shocking.
15
So much for draining the swamp. I will stick with the only investment I can afford and which I believe can make a real difference some day: torches and pitchforks.
2
There's an OZ in Charlottesville going up and I wondered why the couple (Ivy and Jeff Levien from NYC, Heirloom Developer) built it so, this is the real explanation.
Its location is in front of a low-income housing African American neighborhood in town.
The location choice makes perfect sense now. It's called 600 W. Main St. and it's 6 stories of 53 lease apartments.
The owner Levien says, "We want to have a certain atmosphere and level of sophistication within the building" He also said, that our city wasn't ready for sophisticated people before his building was built. I find that condescending.
The people who live in the neighborhood behind this expensive apartment building would not be his targeted renters but the Leviens were nice enough to hire a renowned African American artist to paint a mural on an existing retail building next door (they purchased) as a "gift to the city" said Levein.
It's really unfortunate that the OZ projects weren't designed to ask more of these wealthy Developers. Why couldn't they have been required to fix up neighborhood homes where their expensive buildings sit adjacent as part of their tax breaks? This would really have been a gift to many cities! New Orleans could have benefitted by a better deal. I grew up there, I've seen those boarded-up neighborhoods.
OZ is a real estate tax gift to the ilk that Trump & his family are in and who also got the big Trump Tax Cut as well. Self Serving is Trump policy!
3
These aren't the same "zones" that Kushner's sister was selling to Chinese investors in exchange for green cards ?
And why does it always come back to someone who worked for Jeff Sessions and Stephen Miller ?
13
What did you expect? The Republican Party has always supported the rich, ignoring the poor. The Democratic Party gave us social security and medicare! In other words, the working people of this nation have become accustomed to getting the finger from every Republican to hold elective office at the federal level. A good tax break for the rich is what we should have expected when we elected Donald Trump, so why are the non-rich voters complaining; you knew better!
4
@Ed
A tax break for the rich and NOTHING ELSE. Those that studied Trump's history knew all of this and its inevitable occurrence even before he became President and as expected, other than the bravado and constant lies, one would be hard pressed to find ANYTHING ELSE that he has actually "accomplished" in his first two and a half years in office.
This is a bit off topic- but related. I grew up in the Bay Area and love San Francisco and Oakland. I just got a call from a friend in VA so excited Amazon was coming... I said POOR you. You will have promised billions in tax cuts- you will have to subsidize his workers; homelessness will rise as people are priced out of the market. You will run around trying to figure out how to build affordable housing- you will pay for it. I've see my region ravaged by "The Bros" Bart stops unusable because of the human excrement on the streets. I am really pained I love my City and see it torn apart by such greed. Well it's survived fires, earth quakes and risen from the ashes- We will survive the Bros- hope othe cities learn from us.
3
Is anyone else sick to their stomach reading this? Scaramucci, Christie? Is there no end to the greed of these people? This country is screwed!
12
The Opportunity Zone program is far from perfect as a way to create jobs and rehabilitate blighted neighborhoods. But the focus of this article is to evoke outrage on a tax break for the rich. Did the Times author think that poor people would finance this redevelopment? Almost any incentive to attract large amounts of capital will be targeted at the wealthy—that’s where the money is (apologies to Willie Suttons).
93
@RobB I don't think the point is that the break is aimed at the wealthy but that the investments themselves don't really help the people in the so-called opportunity zones to any great degree. So why have them?
76
@RobB “poor people financing this redevelopment” is a red herring. The real question is the faulty criteria methodology that was baked into the 2017 tax law, passed without open debate and shoved down our throats. Rich people financing wealthy projects in wealthy areas that would have already received financing without corporate welfare isn’t in the intersect of society at large or the government.
84
@RobB
If I understood it right, you mean that the most certainly function of the republic is to make the wealthiest even more wealthy.
25
The republicans have NOT ONLY dismembered FDR’s progressive tax system, but have brought on a new system of crony capitalism to boot. Vote the scoundrels out. THEN bring back the ingredients for the healthy middle class that the New Deal gave us.
5
That picture of fat cats speak volumes.
6
Every day I read one more thing that causes me to despise Trump more.
Growing up, my dad had a name for people like Trump and his rich cronies who feed off of hardworking, honest, tax-paying citizens: parasites of society.
You can dress them up in expensive clothes, take them to the toniest restaurants, have them live in multimillion dollar homes, and give them powerful positions in society, but they remain the same: parasites.
16
Millions more reasons to; Vote Blue no matter who.
17
@Ray Sipe Wrong, you do what you want but I will never vote for a corporate stooge, run another one like in 2016 and we will lose again.
2
Wow! How can I get in on this?
2
The poet William Blake said it well: "And we are put on earth a little space/to learn to bear the beams of love."
People who, instead, focus their precious, limited days on money seem glamorous when they attain their goal. In fact, they are pathetic.
"But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’"
6
Teapot Dome?
6
This is the definition of the swamp.
16
I’m shocked I tell you...shocked.
6
OZ - the opioid of the rich.
2
Laundries run on losses, not gains.
Dang, between the plutocrats owning the real estate in our cities and our public lands (thanks to the new idiot in charge of the BLM) I'm terrified at what our country is becoming - it smells a like like the Middle Ages where the wealth and land was concentrated into the hands of a few while everyone else barely scrapped by to make a living.
6
It is not in the least surprising that those who designed the tax, are best placed to profit from it
Those snouts are buried deep in the trough
7
Do you or don’t you live in an opportunity zone?
Only your government and wealthy investors know for sure!
https://www.cdfifund.gov/Pages/Opportunity-Zones.aspx
Well the great thing about these tax deals is that they can be ended very fast., Declare a state of emergency and takes the tax breaks awY on Jan 20th 2021
8
Putin transferred Russia's wealth and wealth opportunities to his friends a/k/a the oligarchs. Trump admires Putin and is following the Putin model. Money influences elections so the rich of the world have simply taken out the middleman and had one of their better unscrupulous member's elected US president - and the rich become weathlier.
7
@donnyjames
Yeltsin did much of the work before Putin and he got a lot of help from the neoliberal "experts" from the U.S.
1
@Dr. Biri
The alcoholic Yeltsin was our boy, Bush did not like Gorbachove besides the Friedman boys from Chicago worked with the oligarchs dividing the people's wealth amongst themselves and the carpet beggars from the west. The real profiteers.
1
This stealing, plain and simple.
11
Another article on Trump's & Republican Party corruption. I am so sick of this presidency and of the Republican Party. They have stacked the deck in their favour from the time I was a child and it is taken one step further by this mastermind and his cronies to benefit themselves. And the poorest Americans just cannot see it...all they see is the Rainmaker who is the biggest charlatan of the lot.
11
Trumpian investment. Should they not be allowed to enrich Kushner? LOL.
1
The rich are looting America, and apparently no one can stop them.
Goodbye America.
7
Thieves. Greed. The rest is silence.
9
There is ZERO, none, nada discussion of the magnitude of the capital-gains tax-savings in this very long article. The apoplectic anti-wealthy tone is misplaced and adds to the divisive tone of our already sadly angry social discourse.
The authors shirked their responsibility in this article by ignoring the relatively meager capital-gain tax-savings in the opportunity zone legislation. The savings is a 15% discount on capital-gain taxes after a 7-year term. So, if you invest in an opportunity zone, your capital gains tax bill is deferred for 7 years. Then at the end of that 7 years, your tax bill is due and you pay $0.85 for every dollar owed - a 15% reduction. That equates to 2.1% per year in capital gains tax savings (15% divided by 7 years = 2.1% per year). You can get a higher return than 2.1% in a bank savings account.
The capital-gains tax-savings for opportunity zone investments is conveniently ignored in this NYT screed. The OZ capital-gains saving is meager - at 2.1% per year it is sort of pathetic. The anti-wealth tone of this article is misplaced and poorly supported by critical facts in the OZ tax law.
4
THIS ISN'T 'politics'... It's TYRANNY.
2
Being led by a thief and con man has consequences.
It’s like we live in Venezuela, only worse, as we are supposed to be “exceptional.”
3
Under the Trump administration, the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) designation is a license to exploit the poor and steal from the taxpayer.
Government corporations set up during the Depression to support affordable housing haven't made a dent in the problem because they are totally focused on subsidizing financing rates for large for-profit banks and paying them outsized annual dividends.
They could care less about affordable housing, though they are sure to take plenty of pictures and send out a flurry of PR statements whenever they do throw a pittance at the problem.
Management of these non-profit institutions make millions, and the expense of perpetuating these mixed ownership government corporations equals or exceeds whatever is left over for affordable housing.
They spend millions to fool the public and Congress that they are working for the public good, and therefore deserve an implied funding guarantee from the US Treasury at no cost, unlike Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Real estate has long been know as an area of corruption, through money laundering, tax breaks and evasion, etc. The phony ideals professed of Trump serving poor, underserved communities is stripped bare in this article.
Trump is intent on making US citizens a land of renters instead of owners, widening the disparity in wealth and income.
We are living in a time of lawlessness and corruption in America.
7
And for all those predicting Trump will be voted out with his low approval ratings, please remember on the day he was elected Donald Trump had a 36% approval rating. And also, is the economy today better than the economy in 2012 that re-elected President Obama?
2
@Steve
Short answer. YES.
And just in case you've forgotten -- the Obama administration inherited a RECESSION, thanks mainly to George Bush and an Iraq war that had no WMDs.
There. Fixed that.
You're welcome.
1
What cynicism, "Opportunity zones", for the investors and developers, that's for sure!
Many Americans ask why is Trump so infatuated with Vladimir Putin, and it's because these are the type of business opportunities that the Russian strongman likes to conduct through his oligarch friends and business partners, huge projects with even bigger profits for all. We might still learn one day that Trump was a partner of that exclusive club..
1
In “rat-infested” Baltimore, Under Armour’s Kevin Plank is using Opportunity money to build Baltimore 2.0 called Port Covington. Whereas West Baltimore continues to be redlined. Developers also have their eyes on Cherry Hill, an all-black Baltimore community situated on some of the best waterfront real estate in Maryland, across the harbor from Port Covington.
2
This is why we need to elect Elizabeth Warren.
8
Trump's morality is a wasteland. His lack of foresight is nothing but a wasteland. His sweatshops in China, Malaysia, and Mexico are in all likelihood nothing but wastelands especially when it comes to safety concerns and child labor.
As far as the economy goes, there isn't even have anyone with a degree in economics in the Trump Team.
And he has nothing but his inane rhetoric on tax breaks, which he played, and now it's played out. What does he have in store for us other than his tax breaks?
United States Vodka? United States Steaks? United States Air Shuttle service from Boston to New York? United States Casinos?
It's sad how the Republicans in office are this obvious in their corruption and cowardice. Look at how they have "managed" to destroy their own party.
Their own party is nothing but a wasteland.
3
Because the system is so clearly rigged against American working families, is it any wonder that this same group beneficiaries “meritocrats” should tirelessly promote racialization of refugees at the Southern border as the scourge and blame for the country’s economic and social distress?
2
As I understand it, then, the idea is to aid the poor with tax breaks for the rich. How Republican is that solution?
I have a different idea. End billionaires. Execute them. Nationalize their wealth. Pump it into infrastructure and people.
That's how to MAGA. But, we need a few real patriots, some Americans with spines, to get there.
1
Any plan designed by Trump or the GOP is always for the benefit of the grifters...always the same old recipes! I bet than all the Trump's family, on a cumulative basis, pays less taxes than you are currently paying!
2
Between this, the Sacklers, Epstein and a long list, it's getting pretty easy to despise rich people.
5
I know this is reporting, not opinion, but still it is remarkable that the word "corruption" never appears. The reporter couldn't find a respectable critic to say that maybe we should judge corrupt a plan to shovel billions in tax breaks to billionaires while excusing itself by claiming that a few crumbs of utility will fall down to ordinary people?
We're all boiled frogs.
3
Trump's self-serving corruption at it's finest.
3
So if we’re going to play the “I bet...” game, @ehillesum, I bet that if you added up the relative amount of benefits bestowed on the working and middle classes (like me) and the wealthy (like trump’s pals), the working and middles classes got pittance (I actually owed more in taxes than before the tax “cut”), and trump’s pals have and will continue to make out like, um, bandits for years to come. Imagine that!
And as for whatever economic stimulus the tax “cut” provided, trump is well on his way to pounding that into the sand with his stupid tariffs. Of course, the wealthy will benefit from a recession (cheap property, etc... to buy at bargain prices), while everyone else struggles to get by. But you already know that.
2
Ask a poor person if giving him or her a tax break is the same as giving them money. Then tell them the Times thinks it is. They will fall over laughing.
2
The Achilles heel of democracy is corruption and Trump is corruption personified.
2
The elite class has hired the best psychologist, marketing firms, and advertising firms to convince the working class to redistribute their wealth to the elites.
To see this propaganda in action watch FOX News. Americans are worrying over race, guns, religion, immigration, and gay wedding cakes while the elite steal our wealth, & rape the planet.
We voted for oligarchs, we got them. In Russia they control the election, in America they manipulate our minds to vote against our children’s future.
5
NYT is absolutely right. Poor people should be funding these billion dollar projects.
3
@Chris
touché
1
These kinds of tax initiatives always strike me as a form of amnesty. A pardon to people who can afford to pay the taxes that play a large role in enabling their wealth in the first place.
DACA as a form of amnesty, not a chance. Not for those “illegals” who happen to pay their fair of taxes. But when big monied interests trot out tired trickle down and investments funds being “freed up” theories inside a story of supposedly helping the poor, well then heck yes let’s do it!
1
This stuff keeps making headlines, as it should. We all need to know how privileges and trust are being abused by the people we elect to protect and represent us.
Look at the list of the Trump supporters that are making millions! Kushner is way up there; he's also involved in building in the West Bank if I am correct, but do we see ANY peace progress from this 12 y/o ignorant, opportunist, crooked "special advisor to the President"?
Scrapeahead, the media hypocrite, is also set to make millions and I suspect his opposition to his boss Trump is as fake as it gets.
LeFrak has been at it since his father built Lefrak City on Long Island decades ago. I suspect there's huge miscreant going on there just like there is with Kushner.
This is only one chapter of Trump's DEN OF THIEVES. Republicans, the LIARS that falsely claim the high ground about debt, are robbing this country into bankruptcy. Our NATIONAL DEBT is skyrocketing due to their tax cut for themselves, tax income is lower because of Trump's insane trade wars and now this rip off. The music goes on and on. CLEAN THE SWAMP or shut up. Anyone supporting Trump and his Mafia has no right to complain about ANYTHING.
1
Socialism for the rich, again
3
Seems to be working as intended. Construction, investment, jobs and future employment opportunities are being created. Only the NYT and negative people could turn this into a bad thing.
2
Hindsight is worthless. Donald Trump is a total fraud who was allowed to sell himself as a populist by the mainstream news media in the biggest failure by that industry since the run-up to the war in Iraq.
I, for one, have lost hope that our democracy can function when the news media fails to present the truth on this scale in real time.
2
I see the Ayn Rand heroical types who know precisely zip about how capitalism is spozed to work (Adam Smith, guys: the economic must be regulated to work properly, and you can’t just have the greedheads right up close to the trough), but by god Believe that the likes of Scaramucci are just plain superior beings, who carve the future out of the howling wilderness with their own two good hands and Babe, the Big Blue Ox, are starting roll right on in, howling that the Times is done gone noticed the scam.
It’s amazing. People actually think they’re gonna be invited into the stretch limo, driven to the Mint, handed a gunny sack and a shovel, and told “From each according to their greed, so whatever you can lift, you can have.”
I’ve no trouble understanding why a rich guy would believe all this ridiculous guff about “opportunity zones.” After all, it’s in the interest of their ego. But the depth of dumb faith it takes for everybody else to Believe—well, it’s really something to behold.
2
For those who don’t know how to share their wealth: labor camps.
2
i know it isn't ethical, but is it even legal that jared kushner's company is making money on this?
343
@pamela
Their lawyers study the question of legality carefully, to ensure they test the boundaries severely, without breaking them.
Also, in most cases, people like kushner are betting that no one has the will to launch a legal challenge. It's how their class functions--trump is a glaring example.
51
@Alex I think there are Kushner projects in Jersey City and in Hackensack that "may" fall in this category of zones. Not sure, but I think that these "opportunity zones" in both cities are actually a bit of a distance from the poor businesses and people meant to benefit from this type of tax break.
14
@pamela
Pelosi’s husband made a fortune off lucrative government opportunity’s and no one says a word. Happens all the time on both sides of the aisle, but of course you only see orange man bad. This is why we need term limits. The top 10 richest congress people are Democrats BTW, I would start there.
12
This is great. Now the poor won’t have to take the bus or drive a barely running car to their jobs catering the to the rich, they’ll be able to walk. Well, I guess that will hold for a few years, until they’ve completely gentrified the place.
3
Only the NEW YORK TIMES can portray the Opportunity Zones as negative. The zones are revitalizing cities , creating construction jobs and employment opportunities once the projects are completed. What could possibly be wrong with that. Taxes will eventually be paid they are just deferred.
4
Yeah, all those housekeeping jobs cleaning up after the ultra rich. Gee, thanks so much.
1
California used to have redevelopment zones, but Bush’s recession ruined them. This is rather like them, but with apparently little oversight. The problem with this scheme is that this kind of wealth is that it can disappear quickly, leaving cities with areas even more blighted than they were before. Greed just isn’t the way.
2
Big mega projects and insiders slopping at the trough are a typical form of excess seen in the end stage of business expansions just before a recession or slowdown occurs.
At 71 I've seen it before and expect to read next year how some projects died on the vine and went into bankruptcy proceedings.
5
The last Republican with a conscience died on 08/25/18. And his name was John McCain.
Today, the modern GOP is defined by Donald Trump. And in terms of honesty, morality, and integrity, the party is headed full-speed in only one direction - towards the abyss.
11
how are young people going to achieve financial independce, in our corrupt society?
@Steve Taksler
Well, if you're a Democrat, you will most likely achieve your financial independence through honest hard work. If you're a Republican, you will most likely achieve it the way Mitt Romney suggests, by just borrowing $50,000 or $60,000 from your parents for a little start-up.
2
Unfortunately, none of this is shocking. But why is it always “low income” or the most wealthy among us? There are numerous educated professionals struggling just to make a living from paycheck to paycheck and keep something for the future.
We are so often forgotten.
13
This is just another hit job on our president. This program works. Just as an example, ask the mayor of Biloxi, MS whose town has greatly benefitted from investments in its opportunity zone.
That said, who else besides the wealthy investors you seem to vilify has the money to invest and take the commensurate risks in these areas?
5
How is this a hit job? It seems well researched and notes repeatedly that advocates notes that some of the money is improving low income areas and as time goes on, more of the money will go to the members of those communities.
Luxury hotels are not the intended result, but they are being subsided by this program. Luxury hotel have benefits, but they aren't the intended benefit.
Perhaps, as the article allows, in the long run the program will have the intended benefit. But that doesn't make the disconnect and opportunism more attractive.
It's news, completely reported. Truth isn't a hit job.
5
Apparently these guys do, though.
https://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article36568830.html
Hundreds of billions of dollars in construction underway and the cost to the taxpayer is deferral of capital gains taxes on a small portion of that amount. Tens of thousands of jobs. Tens of millions in tax revenue to the local governments. 1,000 of ongoing jobs and thousands of new businesses supporting the new residents. You give tax breaks to the rich because that is where the money is. You can give a 100% tax break to the bottom 30% of income earners an it will generate exactly nothing, because they dont pay income tax. This magazine piece is bunk. If you add up the value of the big splashy projects presented here it would only amount to a tiny portion of the overall program.
9
@Mkm One of many distortions by "conservatives" is this notion of two types of Americans: very wealthy--"job creators"--and very poor who "generate exactly nothing." Socialism and welfare for these "job creators," along with countless other glaring realities, just doesn't register in that kind of perverted binary.
2
Trickle Down economics, once again
2
Or you could tax the rich and use the tax receipts for actual urban renewal for the people that live there. How novel!
"Backers . . . say luxury projects are the easiest to finance, which is why those have been happening first. Over the long run, they say, those deals will be eclipsed by ones that produce social benefits in low-income areas."
Meaning, luxury projects make big bucks for investors, so they are easy to finance. Projects for lower-income folks don't, so they are hard to finance and will never be built.
4
So, they want to create tax revenue from those making coffee and changing beds for the rich. I bet that tax cut pays for itself!
7
"Backers of the opportunity-zone program say luxury projects are the easiest to finance, which is why those have been happening first. Over the long run, they say, those deals will be eclipsed by ones that produce social benefits in low-income areas."
Self-serving nonsense
16
Lower and middle class Republicans think that this tax break for the wealthy is a good idea?
6
Get real. There never was, and there never will be, "a Trump tax break to help poor communities". That was just a fraudulent description. This tax benefit is an enormous benefit for the very rich, including the Trump family, because that's what it was meant to be.
16
Tax breaks for the wealthy, peanuts and words for the rest.
13
These public-private partnership are great in theory. But they do not work in practice. At least not in the way we do them now. Perhaps claw-back provisions?
4
Once again. No big surprise or great revelation since Donald Trump has never been the champion of the poor and working-class like he likes to believe he is.
That much became clear when he bulldozed his way through Atlantic City, N.J. leaving it in worse shape than it was before he set up shop there and bankrupted not only his businesses, but the whole town in the process -- And that's not even counting all his other real-estate boondoggles and the resulting lawsuits he's been involved in.
Plus there's that recent tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and corporations that he and Republicans masterminded as a fait de accompli to maintain their absolute government control.
In the meantime, everyone else -- especially people of color, are depicted as worthless, shiftless and content to live in garbage-strewn rat-infested communities without so much as a mention of how he, the Kushner family and other magnates conspire to keep them there.
Making America great again.
For some.
10
So reading this I got curious about where these opportunity zones were in California, specifically Los Angeles. Turns out my neighborhood IS an opportunity zone. At the moment there are at least six large, high end condo complexes being built, two of which sandwich my house. All of them involved razing single family homes or shutting down independent businesses prior to building. I can say firsthand that all this has done is accelerate gentrification, and is not providing anything of use/accessible to the community it’s meant to benefit.
30
Grace, it would be interesting to see if any new small businesses are able to get OZ financing. It seems like a big advantage for companies that want to get started there.
It appears that the mapping of the boundaries of opportunity zones is where a lot of lobbying influence was directed, and a lot of those opportunities zowns include map areas that should not be included, because they are not needing these investors
Capital will always flow to the lowest risk and highest return among an available set of investment options. I don’t think the fall here is with the investors per se I think it’s with the politicians in the Oz fund managers who lobbied to get places included that shouldn’t be
Some of the projects described in the article it is absurd that they were included in opportunity zones.
If there is corruption or malfeasance it lies with the people who created the zones, when they created the program.
5
What's more interesting about this is how much it's the same old, same old. The tax breaks help the rich, deliver very little to those in need of anything, and more empty promises are made while people go without the necessities of life.
I'm so glad 99% of us are supporting the richest in America. I'm thrilled that I get to be a failed adult at the age of 60 because employers don't want to hire me yet they claim they can't find anyone to fill the jobs. I'm even more thrilled when I hear that Trump is proposing to have a summit at one of his properties while the GOP says nothing against it. I'm happy the rich have affordable housing. I happy that they have gated communities being built for them. I'd be even happier if more of us had the following: decent jobs, access to medical care when and where we need it, access to a good K-12 education no matter what neighborhood we live in, and elected officials that are responsive to us rather than the polls.
16
Good post , with one correction: elected officials don’t worry about polls so much but they DO respond to corporations, lobbyists and wealthy donors.
6
Truthfully, you only need to read the first 4 paragraphs of this piece to know this tale of capitalism's exploitation. Whatever became of Noblesse Oblige; the inferred responsibility of the privileged to act w/ generosity and nobility toward those less privileged?
312
@Aristotle
I disagree.
All you need is the title of this article and a scant knowledge of Trump's dubious business history to know the rest.
17
@Aristotle When government works for the rich, it's called capitalism. When government works for the poor, it's called socialism.
59
Noblesse Oblige? The top 50 percent of taxpayers pay 97 percent of all individual income taxes, while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 3 percent. The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (37.3 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined (30.5 percent).
5
As the article points out, many of these projects were already underway. How many more would’ve been moved forward as well? If there’s a profit to be made, you can bet developers will be on it. Surely the tax gain isn’t the only profit. You gotta hand it to them and Trump: They get to make a profit AND rob the taxpayer. Double bonus.
10
Good article. I have been skeptical of OZ since its inception, simply b/c there's so much room for corruption. It's one of those things that look good on paper, but not so good in real life. Sure, there are some trickle-down benefits, but that may be offset by rising housing costs. In the Baltimore area, Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour (and Trump fan) benefits greatly from OZ. I'm not saying it's all bad; I'm sure there are some cases where its working well, but there's a lot of potential for abuse.
3
Are you Trump voters tired of getting rich?
11
So why is this news? Haven’t we known this for ages?
4
A bonanza? If you think nobody loses money as developer you are willfully ignorant. I live an a housing development that was built on land by the second developer. The first was going to build houses above $700,000. 3 houses built. He went bankrupt. He is no longer a developer. The second developer built houses starting at 250,000.
2
I bet he or she is not a Trump friend
Sounds like a greed problem.
Trump Inc. from WNYC radio exposed this graft, this giveaway to buddies, in the 2017 tax law months ago while we/NYT/the entire country were all being distracted by dozen upon dozens of inane tweets. It makes one's stomach hurt to realize that the damage to our country is going to be happening for decades into the future. The presidential challengers need to be informed and clearly, simply tell these facts to the American people. No vague statements on how the system is rigged, just simple clear example of how we are being distracted by this Trump/GOP govenernance and what they were actually doing while we weren't looking.
4
He probably tip-offs these bros before market shifting tweets
6
Another reporting piece the misses the point of why these deals are so attractive for high end investors. They are paying the promoters of these projects for one thing only - a piece of paper that lets them avoid paying taxes. They could care less what is being done with the money. The promoter gets free money in return to subsidize whatever project the politicians decided to favor. There is no benefit to anyone other than the people getting the tax breaks and the promoters who get the free money. Its financed by higher taxes on everyone else.
By the way, this is not a slam on republicans or democrats. Just crooked politicians, promoters and tax dodgers.
6
Apparently, yet another government-assisted tax-avoidance real estate development tax scheme masquerading as rebuilding decayed inner cities has been perfected.
I guess all the big-city TIF (tax increment financing) opportunities either have been exhausted or the press & public has awakened to their dark political undersides.
Here's a report on a TIF deal in Chicago was kept obscured, so to protect a developer's claim on $1.3 Billion of property taxes. https://www.chicagotribune.com/investigations/ct-lincoln-yards-tif-blight-question-20190826-3tjv44ljqradbfe22yynyzcjie-story.html
2
Keep voting for the GOP and watch the impoverishment of America’s middle class. Killing them softly.
12
Absolutely sickening.
8
President Trump could cure cancer and the Times would still figure out a way to accuse him of enriching himself.
4
@Bob. Trump could deny children treatment for cancer and his base would cheer it on. He is, and they do.
19
@Bob A President who has extensive interests in real estate implements tax cuts that benefit people with extensive interests in real estate. Who wouldn't be suspicious?
6
@Bob
What aspect of the situation reported here is even in the same solar system as curing cancer? If Mr. Trump were a capable, constructive and public-spirited president then I would vote for him. And by the way, this story isn't an accusation, it's a report of facts. That the facts are damning for Mr. Trump isn't the fault of the press.
4
I don’t want to ever read again that whites are not investing in black neighborhoods. Apparently they are racists not matter what they do. And I’m African American.
5
Yeah, that picture at the top...that’s a black neighborhood, that is. Sure.
1
The plan won the support of Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey....
Probably not his fault. I respect Cory Booker a great deal, and it's always hard to envision the ways in which the greedy mega-wealthy will exploit pretty much every attempt to lessen the wealth disparity in our nation.
But my impression is that Elizabeth Warren best understands these aspects of our political breakdown and how central they are to our nation's present sad state. Senator Warren has demonstrated this for years by her focus on economic issues.
I just read another article in the Times telling me that despite my impression to the contrary, I'm actually paying lower taxes under Trump's tax system. Nonsense.
If my taxes are lowered by $100, and the taxes of a person who makes a billion dollars a year are lowered by $500,000 million, and the national debt goes up by a vast amount, my taxes in any meaningful sense have gone up.
Democrats who've successfully given us the impression that the regular guy's taxes have gone up have done a good job.
Now we need someone who can express this forcefully and who can design and implement policies to change it. More and more, I think that this is Elizabeth Warren.
3
The Mooch ain’t called the Mooch for nothing.
12
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, I guess.
Otherwise, Trumpists, a little teeny note from Adam Smith: while capitalism is an economic system, not a charity, and has no inherent morality, capitalism is SUPPOSED to be the rising tide that lifts all boats.
That is, the market is spozed to be set up so that as investors and owners compete on something like a level playing field, they create stuff eveybody can use, improve the stuff everybody can use, and develop new industries and opportunities for all. This generally improves society and living conditions, working kind of like evolution.
If that happens, we can live with the leeches and their yachts: like mosquitoes, they just don’t suck enough blood to really hurt.
But if you let the fat cats write the laws and wipe out the regulations, if you turn the productivity of society entirely towards cranking out stuff like luxury hotels and huge warehouses (especially when you build them on top of neighborhoods), that evolution stops. Then, capitalism can’t force the innovation, and raise the waterlevel for everybody. And what you get is “hollow,” value, built entirely on speculation and subject to easy collapse. In essence, you’re yanking the capital needed to fuel the system out of the system.
It’s not hard to understand, Randies and righties. The reason you don’t is that you fantasize you’ll be a winner in laissez-faire, since you’re superior. And you figure you’re getting back at Them.
Trump. Doesn’t. Care.
4
Why all the demonizing of the rich? The 1% pays the bulk of all the nation's bills. They provide the jobs, donate hospital and college facilities, they buy yachts and private jets, second homes; employ designers, architects and realtors, have elective surgery and dental procedures. They are spreading the money around. All this spending is great for the economy and job creation. They are targeted by the political class, who never created a job in the private sector and it is beyond arrogant for them to lecture the rest of us on the evils of making money. Most of the rich got there by hard work and providing a useful product or service the rest of us want. If you want to see what the result of high taxes are look at California, where the middle class is truly getting hammered. Cut out the middleman, and allow the earners to keep their own money, with out the liberals getting hold of it to pay for healthcare and welfare for illegals.
3
The only handouts the middle class can't afford are those going to greedy corporations and now, thanks to Trump, farmers.
3
That is absolutely not true. The “rich” are greedy sociopathic takers stealing taxpayer money. What jobs? They’ve done nothing but avoid paying taxes, outsource jobs, exploit illegal immigrants and import cheap H1B workers.
This Opportunity (for whom?) Zone tax scheme is just another outrage from the Trump Administration. I seems like there is a new one every day, and I'm sick of it.
3
Just another con put forth by the President. The 2017 tax plan touted by Trump as investment in 'Opportunity Zones' that he characterized as 'rat infested' areas of inner cities, was sold to America as a way of helping the poor. Instead, like any skilled grifter, he designed the program for rich people to dump money into luxury projects and enjoy tax free returns on the profits, while displacing the poor. His rural base doesn't care because those city dwellers are mostly people of color who are on welfare already, said the farmer whose hand is busy taking subsidies from the President for his failed trade policy with China. Strange business.
5
Why is this a surprise? Its deplorable of course. Small businesses paying taxes and those without opportunities to higher education , daca students who can't get loans to get a bachelor's , paying taxes at low income jobs? While the rich are getting richer?
2
At first I thought all of the President's comments were random and spilled out of his mouth ad lib. But, now we see there is a method to his madness, and he is smarter than we thought, or an opportunity for his henchmen to pounce on a great opportunity to make money at the expense of the working class.
This tax break served a greater purpose for all the usual suspects while they placate all the cities that Trump depicted as wastelands, over run by vermin and crime, and unfit for anyone to inhabit.
Ergo, redevelopment, luxury apartments for those who could afford it, tax-free money, work for a short time for those who need it, and no doubt, shoddy provisions for those less fortunate when complete.
2
The elite class knows what good for us, and we voted for them to show us.
3
Before you start jumping over Cory Booker, the original bill contained reporting requirements for investments in OZ. These were removed from the final bill. Booker and others introduced S1344 in May to require such reporting. No action thus far on it.
4
As high level, luxury gentrification spreads into more cities, the working poor will be confined to high crime, sordid neighborhoods. If successful in relocating to another place, this process could be dodged for awhile.
Meanwhile the lower level flippers with renovation skills or the money to purchase same will gnaw at the edges of the urban core & beyond, one dwelling at a time, creating yet more difficulty for the displaced.
Greed is a contagious disease in the USA that has inflicted more & more people. As the middle class has shrunken, a rags to riches philosophy as taken hold, breeding a nation of malcontents. Thanks plutocrats & internationalists.
5
At least there is transparency in the phrase, Opportunity Zone. trump and his swamp have created a cornucopia of opportunities for his pals, aka the rich, to get richer. And true to form, they’ve wasted no time taking advantage of them.
3
Aren't we tired of winning?
1
As usual, the New York Times continues in its role as one of the nattering nabobs of negativity. Why don't you focus on the fact that an opportunity zone must first be deemed eligible to receive this investment. Not only that, this is real estate. Real estate does not build itself nor does it appear overnight. The holding period for receiving the tax benefits is at least 10 years before any benefit can be realized.. So people cannot engage in short termism here because there isn't any reason to make the investment otherwise-people must make this investment and hold it for 10 years and lock up their money. This is a big deal. This article is simply another example of the incessant picking at the president and at the Republicans and to continue to tar and feather them as a party of the rich. Well guess what, many of us are not rich and we believe in opportunity zones and we believe in giving people with money tax breaks so they can take that wealth and spread it around like manure. Let's wait and see what this brings. Construction of any sort is good for communities. It creates construction jobs and creates a demand for goods and services for all kinds of people who are both blue and white collar. How can this be bad?And isn't it the whole idea to put beautiful new buildings in blighted, forgotten areas to try to help these neighborhoods become beautiful too?
6
I am conflicted on this one. You need to tell us what your solution is to the problem of blighted neighborhoods. For sure, there will always be some groups who won’t abide by the spirit of the law. Would you rather have some of this money going elsewhere to create boom and busts? At least infrastructure is something that is long term and creates employment along the way.
3
Well, what do you know. The "wheeler-dealers" are still around.
2
News article number 95,020,388,529,572,210,582 on how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Yet some Americans still don't get it when they are in the voting booth.
17
@Where are Trumps Tax Returns
Even within these comments about this "OZ" scam, yes scam, you will encounter the sentiment that poor people are lazy, stupid, and deserve their lot in life--that they should thank these vultures for building their upscale hotels and condos just outside their squalid neighborhoods so they can get a job cleaning lobbies and toilets.
I don't know what it will take for Americans to figure this stuff out. I've lost hope.
3
I would like to see a chart with two columns. The first column has the name of a news source / social media source. The second column has the name of the billionaire(s) who controls it.
4
It's the trickle-down economics that keeps on keeping on since the 1980s when it was raised to a virtue by those who think unlimited wealth concentrated in the hands of a few is a good way to run a society. There's no moral compass in people who think like this. They've infiltrated our schools & universities, too.
4
Much of it? How about all of it? Greed Trump the greed monster.
2
Mr. Parker - When you are a founder of Facebook, hopefully you are spending more time thinking about philanthropy than capital gains taxes
3
I was wondering why there was a sudden burst of tearing down charming Craftsman Style bungalows to build high-rise, cookie-cutter, ugly student housing in the nearby college town. They tore down the only attractive, historic architecture left, cut down an estimated 3,000 trees, all to build blah, poorly built, look-alike apartments that they can't fill. Tearing down the neighborhoods and chopping down the big trees changed the character of the town, and not in a good way.
5
Yes some poor areas will probably ultimately benefit, but overall this is designed and operated to avoid taxes. This is the kind of scam that makes Warren's wealth tax seem ever more attractive.
15
I own a small amount of shares within an REIT and they are touting these “opportunity zone” investments. Guess what? You can only invest if you are a “sophisticated investor” which means you either make more than $200k a year for the last two years ($300k total for married couples) or have assets more than $1M excluding the equity in your house. You need to park your investment (minimum is $100k) for at least 10 years. I wonder how many people can get in that game?
3
This is EXACTLY what ought to be the theme for the democrats in 2020: the open, unabashed, unapologetic greed of the Republican Party.
Trump’s clearly racist rants are designed to make middle class Americans think that dark skinned immigrants are poised to steal their opportunities by infiltrating their neighborhoods. It’s a shell game. Already wealthy white men are the culprits who are using tax breaks (as outlined here but also in plenty of other grifts) to leverage their already prodigious advantage.
Why do already obscenely wealthy Americans need another tax break? It is not as if they are poised on the edge of ruin and need help. Capital gains exist for a taxpayer because that taxpayer made a bunch of money. These are profits we’re talking about. The problems these people are trying to avoid is how to avoid paying taxes they owe on profitable investments. Why do they need this help?
It sounds a lot like a bait and switch scheme. Trump pushes the tax bill through, which includes the opportunity zones ostensibly designed to increase investment in poor neighborhoods, then when everyone looks away, local governments quietly craft those zones to include properties where luxury buildings can be built.
Trump is going to claim “fake news” about this story. Yet even if one factors in an inherent liberal bias from the Times, it is clear to whom the majority of benefits of this tax break will accrue. A few jobs here and there, but a lot of money to already wealthy individuals.
3
"Opportunity Zones": truly Orwellian; "OZ" simply poetic.
This is yet another example of welfare and socialism for the wealthy. The suggestion that its misguidance was unintentional is political correctness: it was designed by and for wealthy investors, including president parasite's family. In 10 years, conservatives will be able once again to lie about "government hand-outs" to impoverished communities of color and lament that no amount of "welfare" can solve their problems. By then, everyone except the pigs feeding at the trough will have forgotten this blatant socialist corruption.
5
Noteworthy and sad that the Florida projects highlighted in by this reporting will all,someday this century, be under seawater. And does their benefactor, Mr. Trump, give a hoot? Not a chance.
1
It looks like the one percent don`t like it when their caught enriching themselves with a incentive for redevelopment of poor areas.
Nothing ever changes; these investors are out for the new scheme of the month, that will be tax free.
To bad there is no oversight of this program. Well of course not why would there be; what was I thinking. This was designed by ruthless billionaires for ruthless billionaires.
Same ole` same ole` never ending greed!
3
The reporters missed the biggest and most egregious misuse of OZ funds. The Aventura Mall in Miami. Those of us here who spotted the inclusion of the mall and all the area around the mall had a collective jaw-drop when we saw it listed. Unbelievable.
4
It could be worse. Much worse. Take South Africa as being a prime example of 'dealings'. Take , well pretty much, all of Africa as a way not to do it. Remember this when voting for President in 2020.
2
But, but, but people! These are our vaunted "Job creators" creating jobs for......lemme think.. Nobody? Oh wait...janitors, lawn care 'professionals', maids, dishwashers and a handful of construction workers short term. But don't worry. New factories will just spring up within the opulent confines of the "yoga" fields to employ more yoga instructors. We're all set for another trillion years undoubtedly..
4
@Martino
Don't forget the doggie shampooers employed by the boutique pooch spas. Lots of useful skills being developed among the needy...yessirree.
There's zero long term planning here, just short term profits that only benefit the very rich.
2
Track the EB-5 investor visa program and notice all the rich across the world feeding at the trough in contrast to the tough talk about refugees.
2
Everyone in America should stop paying taxes. The criminal capitalists are stealing our money — at this point anarchy and revolution is the only answer.
1
@Misplaced Modifier
Thoughtful comment. Anarchy and revolution. I’m not sure any of the Democrats running for President will endorse this platform. But I’m just guessing. I’m not a sophisticated New Yorker.
1
“But even supporters of the initiative agree that the bulk of the opportunity-zone money is going to places that do not need the help, while many poorer communities are so far empty-handed.”
Not surprising that the Greedy Old Party would scam a tax favored program for low income areas. Our national debt is already massive so lets let the rich make it worse. This sort of greed reminds me of something every rich money grubber should think about:
“It is said that for money you can have everything, but you cannot. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; knowledge, but not wisdom; glitter, but not beauty; fun, but not joy; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not faithfulness; leisure, but not peace. You can have the husk of everything for money, but not the kernel.”
— Arne Garborg
I remember reading a recent transcription of a White House meeting where this very program was being touted as being highly successful by Ben Carson.
Now we know the truth of the matter and it is not like what was portrayed in the White House meeting transcription!
America is being lead by crooks is all.
3
Donald Trump was born a con man. He is a modern day version of Henry Hill, "The Music Man". His 40% support base all live in their respective versions of River City, and they are all still infatuated with buying his seventy six trombones and waiting for him to deliver them. Hilarious, yet sad. A tragi-comedy he renews every day.
2
the Music Man was Harold Hill, not henry. He actually brought joy to his community. The robber barons and grifters who orchestrated and will benefit from this theft masquerading as a tax cut, are collectively not fit to clean the instruments of Harold's band.
3
@karen
Thanks for the correction. I got Harold and Henry mixed up.
Henry Hill was an American criminal. Between 1955 & 1980, Hill was associated with the Lucchese crime family. In 1980, Hill became an FBI informant. His testimony helped secure 50 mafia convictions.
I guess Henry Hill reminds me of Trump too - although he wasn't a Music Man.
2
Methinks the French, during the Revolution, had the right idea of what to do with the uber-rich...
4
Tax Breaks - by name itself says it's a break in paying a tax.
You pay less or minimal or no taxes if you're poor; how would a break in paying tax would help anyone else but the RICH.
This is the GOP at it's best and that's why Trump is still in power else Moscow Mitch might have dumped it long back.
GOP - Taking money from poor, keep them poor; give them abortion; fake wall; no education; give them bible; and give them gun to kill others or themselves but take all the money.
And Repeat.
3
“The tax break is largely benefiting the real estate industry — where Mr. Trump made his fortune and still has extensive business interest...”
I believe you mean where Mr. Trump’s father, Fred Trump, made his fortune.
3
Like how the Bush recession became a bonanza for Trump and Hannity. These jackals always profit off the suffering and hardships of others, and often deliberately cause it to profit from it.
3
Reminds me of an old Steve Martin line,
"Welcome to Bananaland....where all chairs are green; and no chairs are green!"
1
Ahh yes, the Trump folks helping the working poor. If you can picture the poor as a starving dog then look at all the well dressed fleas bleeding it dry.
These folks do not care what Trump says or does as long as he keeps the low taxes, less regulations and real estate shams coming. If he has to lie and insult to get votes its OK.
2
Call me when poor people start hiring.
3
Surprise, surprise! It is amazing how life long grifters like Trump, Kushner and their families all have close associates of composed of other con artists, swindlers and con men.
The Trump presidency has brought not just the emoluments issues of Mar a Lago to Washington, D.C., but also the entire Okefenokee Swamp life that Trump dwells in.
2
Trump the billionaire faked caring for the forgotten man to get elected the typical demagogue has always identified with the rich and powerful since age 8. Working with his partner in crime Moscow Mitch the GOP rammed thru a tax cut for the rich written by the rich as usual. The old trickle down spin will never happen but the rich and powerful will never give up their death grip on political power. Citizens United , stacking the courts with right wing judges will protect the interests of the donor class for decades . Trillions spent on our crumbling infrastructure would have offered a better payback for the country than the trillions handed over to the millionaire and billionaire class who just buy villas and yachts overseas. Don the Con has pulled off the con of the century witness his infomercial on his Trump Doral for the next G7 and Jared got a billion $ bail out from Middle East princes currying favor from Trump.
2
The greeds palatable. The rich just get richer and the so it goes. This is another tax avoidance scheme that allow the rich to not pay their fair share. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was.
1
The only people that don't know that Donald Trump is full of it are those who think he's the second coming.
3
New (old) red hat slogan “Only the little people pay taxes”
And/or: “Make the Robber Barons Great Again (and again and again)”
2
The forlorn downtown of New Rochelle, NY is being revitalized thanks to this program. More than 5,000 rentals are planned or under construction, the vast majority of which are located within walking distance of the train station. Eyesores and vacant lots are being replaced with attractive high-rises. Eventually, most of the vacant stores will be rented, and New Rochelle could become a destination downtown.
Yes, we all know that the developers who have the ability to construct 20-story apartment buildings are already wealthy, and will become wealthier, which is the crux of this article. But look at the benefits.
And by the way, the New Rochelle mayor and city council, who have been fast-tracking these developments, are all Democrats. But somehow, this writer has turned this program into an anti-Trump diatribe.
97
@Erik
"But look at the benefits."
Ask the low income and homeless folks how they are benefiting.
81
@Erik Thank you for pointing this out. Of course, a developer would expect to be incentivized for building in an area with a bit more risk, and of course, even with a tax cut, they will want a return on their investment and will bias building towards apartments and stores that will attract higher prices or rents. But in doing that, job opportunities are created for people who live in these neighborhoods and ultimately every one benefits, including the developer. It appears that the writers here are biased against a profit motif. The other option is to just have the government do it. I believe North Korea uses such a model.
6
Good for New Rochelle! Now can we find a way to encourahe cicv leaders and builders to spread the wealth a bit more equitably across other neighborhoods in towns and cities all across the country? I think that was the real gist of the article.
28
No wonder why Ben Carson has been so quiet for over a year now , his pilot and pet project is ,out of the bag. Didn't take much time for the multi billion dollar investors to commandeer a government entity based upon investment for the poor and struggling.Or is it too blind to say this intention was at the beginning. Gentrification replacing blight is a noble cause of course ,unless there's nothing left in the middle,for the one's who inhabit the blight.The downtrodden ,tragically in need of social remedies and housing ,which all these hundreds of billions could easily satisfy.and that ,my friends, was Ben Carsons' original intention.In this real life scenario ,the crime ,the drugs the destitution will simply be pushed into outlying areas and actually right next to the newer condos and towers as it is in Seattle ,San Francisco ,even Pittsburgh .
3
Representative government is failing the people. We need wholesale change before it is too late. The wealthy see what is happening and intend to survive the pillaging of the planet and it’s people in style.
Is it too late?
Does anyone care or is everyone placated by money or a virtual sense of well-being?
Has anyone heard there are millions of people seeking fresh water?
Is anyone concerned the military industrial complex is weaponizing cultures for profit?
Will we ignore Florida after this weekend as a far away place that doesn’t affect us?
Where is the champion of the people? Probably broke. Nobody will pick up the cause. Kinda crazy isn’t it?
2
This is good reporting, but not really news. This is business as usual for a certain segment of our society...
1
The simple fact is people will not take risk and put their money in these types of areas for any reason unless there is some large payback at the end. As I said in my earlier comment construction takes a long time to put in place. These are not shoot from the hip investment decisions. I also think people need to start to understand if we do not encourage people with lots of money to stay here and invested in this country for a benefit at the end of their investment, this money will flee the United States. Money always goes where it can make money.This is a simplistic truth of life. And by the way it goes for both Republicans and Democrats. I see plenty of very well the Democrats running for president and believe me each and everyone of them has taken advantage of our capitalistic system in someway to put that money on the side of their families ledger. So let's not be naïve.
2
Agreed that investments like this can be risky so they need an incentive. BUT, without sounding like a bleeding heart liberal, it’s really wealthy making life better for the wealthy. Take your local inner city middle/low income households that work to provide services like police, teachers, fireman, restaurant service, etc. they get pushed out and the cost of commuting becomes a huge expense. Plus we should want our police to live in the communities they serve. I would like to ALSO see incentives for investors to want to solve these issues. It’s not that this is so wrong, it’s that we are ignoring a real growing problem that can have some bad consequences e. g. Lack of inner city teaches, police, etc.
1
This may explain why my neighborhood is inundated with souless condo high-risers built for upper-class young people by developers who have no intention on living in or even near them. The condos have very few occupants because the prices are so high. This hasn't solved the overwhelming needs for decent housing for working class and middle class citizens in my city.
5
By the way, there is nothing in the opportunity zone legislation that requires low-cost housing to be built. This legislation is to encourage redevelopment, both residential and commercial of areas that are in need of capital to do so.
2
I still don’t support the idea of putting the Eploiting Class in re-education camps and redistributing their wealth to hospitals, schools and nonprofits. But after reading this article, I’ll reconsider.
10
Why is anyone shocked by this?
Or shocked by the increasing amounts of homeless people camped out along streets in our major cities?
8
Let’s just call it what it is: welfare for billionaires. I really don’t blame the investors. They at least are honest about wanting to make money. I blame the Republicans in power for enabling those who they clearly think they work for at the expense of the rest of us.
19
@GD Socialism for needy billionaires.
2
This is really disgusting! People with so much money and no real need to make more are angling to avoid contributing to public funding. To be investing in tax-free profits when you don't need them sounds like a game. There is really something wrong with our humanity when this becomes a driving force instead of considering and caring for those less fortunate than ourselves.
256
@Gary
BAM—you nailed it. I get as much joy working on a habitat for humanity house as I do river kayaking and going to music festivals ( my pleasure passions). I don’t think this is so unique. My suspicion is that almost everyone—even the two billionaires I know—would derive satisfaction out of that group collaboration to improve the lot of one less fortunate. Acts of love—where giving and taking become one thing (because your joy becomes my joy, and vice verse)—work this way. All that said, there are billionaires who are sociopaths. Trump, Murdoch, Putin, etc strike me this way. Had Roy Cohn made a billion, without doubt I would have put him on that sociopath list. Nonetheless, please consider the subtext of what I’m saying: healthy people have the driving force—even if partly “selfishly” motivated—of caring for others.
17
@Michael I often forget about the sociopath factor and the limitation of free will that comes with our neurophysiology. I guess this is why we need laws. Thank you for your reply.
10
@Gary Did you say "Humanity," that word went out the door when President Reagan broke the airline controllers union. Since then it's been downhill for our middle class and devastation for anyone less fortunate.
12
At least where I live in Florida, the Opportunity Zones are truly low income and depressed or blighted areas. Some of these areas do have higher income neighborhoods within a half mile or a mile, but they are still struggling areas with decaying buildings where little or no new construction has taken place in decades.
So, some already wealthy people are making money on Opportunity Zone projects. Um, it seems to me only relatively well-off people can can make use of capital gains tax breaks? People also forget that "the wealthy" don't rake in millions on new projects in a vacuum. They purchase materials from suppliers, who have employees, duh, also, these projects provide jobs to the construction trades, which are increasingly high paying jobs not requiring a college degree.
4
And when the construction ends, what then? The revitalization idea based on new construction that displaces people is not sustainable. Not even considering that in most of the Florida coastal cities, if climate change predictions plan out, all that new construction is going to be Venice-like. What then?
3
One, this is exactly how the Trumps made their fortune in the first place. Using low-income housing legislation to make a fortune while breaking laws left and right. Donald is just passing along to his children what Fred gave to him.
Two, we've seen this movie before. The only difference is, instead of Pottersville, it will be called Trumptown.
7
The economy is growing. That’s good for everyone. Unless you went to the Karl Marx school of economics.
4
A growing economy is not good for everyone if it's generating mostly low-wage jobs with no health or other benefits. The people with these jobs will not be able to afford expensive housing either.
1
Trickle down economics, in another guise.
3
The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Will this greed and selfishness, this inequality, every go away? Probably not.
4
The author doesn’t have the intellectual honesty to list the Democrats that have voted for enterprise zones over the past 30 years. It’s not a new idea.
3
@Shamrock. Opportunity Zones, per se, not necessarily a bad thing. Put in place with zero measuring, reporting or enforcement requirements to see if the “desired” effect is actually helping society? Boondoggle for the rich.
You mean that Tax Cuts and Job act was a giant tax cut for wealthy people? No way...
4
It's all in the way the law was written. Guess who had the money to do that? More than likely, the American Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 already had wiring and sockets built in to aid this Grand Larceny.
4
Great investigative journalism.
Next urge you to write a feature on 1. how much more everyone else has ro pay in taxes to make up for this loss and 2. critical needs that will go inert like lead pods replacement.
5
This being his precise area of expertise, he would have known fully how this would work
1
I see the pictures of the Hong Kong protests, then I read this, another in a litany of awful things done by Trump and his ilk, and can only lament that America's youth is so blind, aloof, passive, tame...
7
This is such a clear example of government sponsored corruption. The words “luxury” and “high end” should not be associated with tax subsidies.
The following sum it up: “Backers of the opportunity-zone program say luxury projects are the easiest to finance, which is why those have been happening first. Over the long run, they say, those deals will be eclipsed by ones that produce social benefits in low-income areas.”
Ah, the promise of trickle down.
6
Nothing new. These enterprise zones are a joke (a sad joke).
3
Jack Kemp advocated for Enterprise zones.....they didn’t work. Now, let’s call them Opportunity zones as if changing the name will make them work. At least Jack Kemp was sincere about helping distressed areas. This instead is just tailored made the the One Percent, and no one else.
5
You mean there's gambling in this place?
2
The aftermath of the Trump years may be to truly create a new wave of Socialism. The average worker who voted for or supports Trump falls under the famous philosopher W.C. Fields thesis... “There’s a sucker born every minute “.
4
I’m so shocked. I guess it’s all rigged. Who knew?
You can bet the Republicans knew.
3
Be Best, my friends. Avoid all the taxes you can and then complain about traffic and the homeless on the streets as you ride in your limos. The goal is to avoid all taxes. Let the poor and the middle class pay for everything. Let them drink lead.
19
What this article describes is what everyone knew the Trump/GOP tax law was intended to do; transform America into a full-blown, Russian style, Kleptocracy, a government of corrupt Trumpian/GOP kleptocrats who use their power to exploit the people and natural resources of our country in order to extend their personal wealth and political power.
The perils of corruption were an obsession of the Founders. In 1787, James Madison mentioned corruption in his notebook 54 times. The transcripts of the constitutional conventions show the Founders understood the real cost of immoral public behavior would be the destruction of our republic so they created a system which defined corruption very expansively.
In "Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United", the legal scholar Zephyr Teachout, laid out how during the country’s first 200 years, courts maintained the Founders’ vigilance against corruption. For most of American history, many states criminalized lobbying in most forms. That near-phobia is long gone. America's political culture, the legal culture, and banking culture are all kleptocratic.
The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision of 2010 didn’t just legalize anonymous expenditures on political campaigns, it redefined the idea of what constitutes corruption, limiting it only explicit bribes, it showed total indifference to tax avoidance by the rich and by large corporations.
In Trump and the GOP we have a fully kleptocratic America.
97
Nothing new here as far as GOP economic policies are concerned - just a variation on trickle-down economics which is borne out by the phrase's origination.
"The term "trickle-down" originated as a joke by humorist Will Rogers and today is often used to criticize economic policies which favor the wealthy or privileged while being framed as good for the average citizen."
3
Chris Christie, while governor of NJ, eliminated the cost of living increase for teachers for the next 20 years. And now he’s enriching himself with the tax plan Trump put in place.
Am I the only one who sees something duplicitous in this?
Retired Asbury Park Educator
915
@Jeanne C Unfortunately, it's not 20 years but until the pension fund reaches its target funded ratio. Or in other words, never.
"Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) to pension benefits are suspended for all current and future retirees of
all retirement systems. Chapter 78 provides for the
establishment of Pension Committees that may consider reinstating the COLA when the retirement system
reaches a “target funded ratio” established by the law."
43
@Jeanne C And don’t forget Mr. Christie is also in the Opioid Addiction Recovery business as well, another economic and health crisis funded by taxpayers we didn’t create. Profiting on the backs of underpaid teachers and all kinds of hard working and vulnerable citizens seems to be the status symbol of the rich, powerful and connected.
I Wonder why a storage facility in CT. Storing Insured Valuables for what type of customer? Are we talking tech equipment and server farms or just Regular People type stuff? Just how lucrative is the storage business in CT? Compared to large scale real estate projects subsidized by taxpayers?
33
@Jeanne C Well, less fortunate people didn't like elites and supported MAGA. What can we say?
23
This is just what Elizabeth Warren is talking about. Trump and McConnell stealing the election had this in mind.
34
Trump’s characterization of Baltimore was accurate. It’s also true or various other big cities, including Philadelphia, where I live.
Is it constructive? Not really. Though, I do appreciate a public official willing to address soaring crime rates and indolence that lets be honest, liberals tend to ignore lest they be seen as racist.
4
@Mark
Mark,
The article is about how Trump's "opportunity zone tax break" was supposed to be used to stimulate projects that would benefit the poor in cities like Baltimore.
Instead, the breaks are being used in a way that benefits the already-wealthy.
So this incentive is not addressing soaring crime rates and unemployment the way it was intended to do.
Your characterization of "a public official willing to address" these issues is, in truth, a mis-characterization.
The money is just being stolen, instead.
5
So you build mega-construction projects in the hearts of the depressed areas, displace the people living there, provide minimal new jobs that are mostly low paying, and that helps whom. If somebody has a billion dollar this year, that's 16,667 households that don't have the $60,000 necessary to raise a family in many inner cities. The concentration of wealth in the hands of the very few, along with the help of our elected representatives to continue that status quo will destroy us...
3
It would be informative to hear Cory Booker comment on how legislation he sponsored and championed seems to be working.
3
@David. The final version is nothing like what he supported.
All of these issues were predicted at the time that Opportunity Zones were put into the tax bill. What is so 'wrong" is that the taxes lost in this Ponzi scheme will impact the American middle class, few of whom have a $million or two to throw into these schemes. Just another piece of how this GOP bill was only for the top 1%.
No criteria were ever established national for OZ's. I am flabbergasted by comments that blame corruption on the poor - who are neither investors or likely to be beneficiaries of this tax scheme.
6
To those who say that the investors are taking risks on these properties: yes, they are. But they have many legal and financial tools to mitigate those risks, and many others to soften the blow should their bets go sour.
Opportunity Zones were touted as helps to communities in need. These are communities who lost bets that they did not even make and have few legal tools available to them. While it may be unreasonable to expect private investors to gamble on these communities, the government (which is to say, let's never forget: all of us) is uniquely able to withstand the pain of long-term, high-risk investments, in education, healthcare, wealth-creation strategies, and more.
The OZ model was misguided from the outset. Every investor profiled in this article could withstand a higher tax rate, and those dollars could be routed toward mitigating the losses of those who have always been punished for other peoples' bad bets. The effect would be social and civic pride, a decline in suffering, and, ultimately, more jobs with more customers. Revisit New Deal taxation and spending policies for proof, and do not forget that we are the government.
33
@Tak
Pretty sure you haven’t studied this bill. It didn’t come from Trump, it came from Cory Booker and Tim scott.
1
@Tak
They really are tax-free.. Often no property taxes (Hudson Yards-- thanks. Cuomo et al) for 20 years...
And PS where is the affordable housing as others have asked. Bloomberg was onto something with his 400 sq. ft. apts in buildgs with a few amenities--e.g. social rooms and spaces. No ore hotels for young women starting out, or YMCAs for young people starting out or old people needing residences. Public housing can be super badly built -- the mess in London. I wonder about the parking lots for public housing in NYC? otoh the cost of public transit is often exorbitant. Much needs to be discussed
1
Investors are destroying Denver in our designated "opportunity zones" . Pushing out generations of families, building shoddy $700 K condo high rises, obstructing mountain views, and obliterating the character of historic neighborhoods. The recent reelection campaign of our mayor was funded by big development money.
Neighborhood associations are rendered helpless to this undercurrent of greed.
384
@kath
Until campaign finance reform is a reality, with teeth, all this will continue and with the importation of world wide billionaires who just so happen to believe in the philosophy of libertarianism (imagine that), will get worse.
44
@Michael yep and this will continue to happen because all the rich developer has to do is call the other side a socialist and 60% of the population will buy it and vote for the other guy.
41
@kath
An investment company recent bought the largest contiguous undeveloped parcel of land in Denver - the 155 acre former Park Hill Golf Club - despite the fact that the city of Denver holds an "open space" easement on the property that will maintain it for parkland and related activities. Now the investment company is lobbying the Denver City Council to revoke the easement, much to the opposition of many city residents who rue the loss of open space in our rapidly developing city. After reading this article, I looked to see if this parcel is in an "opportunity zone" - and why am I not surprised to find that this is exactly the case.
40
Calm down:
These types of investments can be a way to diversify an individuals overall assets. In some cases, the minimums for investments can be as little as $25,000.
And this is very similar to 1031 exchanges that have been around for years. I used this when I sold a small rental house and bought another. And I am not in the big leagues by a long shot. My typical tenants were young families who wanted a fenced yard - not swimming pools.
Are you seriously interested in learning? Look for funds that invest in "your values" - for example: low income housing is a real crisis. Habitat for Humanity can do so much. Don't you want to get involved in a potential solution???? Invest in one of those funds.
" Over the long run, they say, those deals will be eclipsed by ones that produce social benefits in low-income areas.
At least some struggling neighborhoods are already starting to receive investments."
3
@Can “At least some..” That’s not good enough for taxpayer subsidized profits.
@Can
Yes—you are right, and we put some of our money into those funds. So, right on, but that doesn’t mean the article isn’t by and large spot on. The forces of capital continue to aggregate into further methods of reaming the poor, intended or not.
1
@Can m Calm Down and Trust In Trump; a five time Bankrupt con man would never steer America wrong
Same old, this is how the rich get richer under the Republican playbook. Republicans do not care about the poor, never have.
3
Oh my; aren't we surprised? Tucked in a massive tax overhaul with little debate and no public comment- meant to obscure and deceive.
Invest in down-trodden neighborhoods by moving folks out and turning it into an area where they can't afford to live? Opportunistic Zoning?
The whole concept of Opportunity Zones isn't new; Richard Nixon had his own version.This piece doesn't even mention the fact that individuals wanting to purchase dilapidated boarded-up properties in their neighborhoods have been looked out of the financing process by banks.
"After 10 years, the investor can cash out — by selling the opportunity-zone real estate, for example — and not owe any taxes on the profits."
The NYT isn't the first paper to write about this scam; The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has written about this and American Prospect magazine wrote about the program (scam) almost a year ago.
4
Why should anybody be surprised? This is your Republican Party doing what it is paid to do. There can only be one way to mitigate this damage: get out the vote in 2020 for Democrats.
4
Yes, this was all the talk of the idle rich in Portland when it happened. More free money you say, thank you very much!
3
And most still blame the poor for wasting the money that they never saw.
7
This is a great debate question for Cory Booker.
3
This article clearly pulls the covers from the myth of meritocracy that has been pushed by the people that are building a kleptocracy on on the backs of the proletariat.
5
America, the land of opportunity for the rich to get richer, literally on the backs of the poor. You won't be missed.
4
This is just another reason we need President Warren.
4
Boston and the West End all over again. I lived in one of the high rise buildings (GOP big wig owned) which was supposed to transition to affordable units. Instead it was sold as expensive condos. No one seems to enforce the loan conditions affiliated with these programs. Then again, the building I lived in is a fire trap and badly built so caveat emptor if you go for one of these "opportunity" builds.
335
@poslug "Then again, the building I lived in is a fire trap and badly built so caveat emptor if you go for one of these "opportunity" builds." Isn't code compliance your Democrat mayor's responsibility ?.
7
It looks to me like he - DJT- has simply put something in place that mirrors the conditions dispatched at the end of WWII to get the vets of that war into housing. He knows it well because- well- there was a certain Fred Trump who made millions taking advantage of the opportunity(ies)- and -from I understand - not always by providing highest quality product but rather the most profitable option by sometimes questionable means. So- no surprise here- history is again rhyming - even as it stays in-family.
7
The big lie of trickle down economics has been revealed once again.
416
Yes, they failed to mention that they meant it would be like a trickle of tar on a winter’s day: slow and getting stuck far before reaching the bottom.
24
REALLY.. Thousands of construction jobs are created in the Opportunities Zones , That is trickle down economics at it's best !!!!
2
Long-lasting economic improvement and stability for all is what is needed. Not temporary crumbs on a whim for the average or lower-class worker while a buffet is laid out for the rich.
16
It is a giant toxic swamp like an algae bloom.
4
Did anyone actually think Trump cares about poor people? He's made it his life's work to exploit poor people. The presidency is simply his greatest act of said exploitation.
14
It’s not surprising that very few comment on articles that really expose the underbelly of capitalism which covers greed and the greedy.
The rich keep us preoccupied with crazy agendas while they build wealth.
This country much like others it castigates as being third world is a dumpster full of useless agendas and heartless patriotism. It cares very little for bettering its citizens poor or rich.
Happy Labor Day indeed!
2
Mother Teresa was not the kind of investor this tax break had in mind.
4
And my fellow readers, if you actually believe that the tax break was "to help poor communities," I've got a bridge to sell you, too.
7
Welcome to the land of Oz. Now when will people realize that the wizard is just there to line his pockets and that of his buddies?
2
"Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways..."
-Proverbs
4
Better? Yes. Better off? Rarely. The proverb is rarely more than wishful thinking, especially in regard to wealthy opportunists with little concern for others.
1
@Topher Maybe, maybe not. Your 'big city' spin is a bit different than many such as I who live deep in the north woods with a more natural comfort, more wholesome way to interact with my neighbors and be at peace in Mother Nature's arms.
2
If Ivanka was "very, very excited" and the "whole administration is obviously behind this", it must have been the perfect Jarvankian deal to make the rich become richer and the poor become poorer.
10
Inconceivable!
1
To quote noted 20th century philosopher Gomer Pyle: “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”
7
Obviously ghost written by the ghost of Karl Marx. I just got back from a meeting with 20 residents of the nearest trailer park 3 mikes away. They said they can’t develop the property next to them into affordable housing. I said why not. They said, we don’t have any money. It goes toward our living expenses. I told them the news section of the Times thinks the poor can be real estate developers. That laughed at me and told me not to come back and mock them anymore.
1
@Shamrock
Did you even read this article?
The Times categorically does not "think the poor can be real estate developers." Quite the opposite. In fact, this article exposes how already-wealthy developers are building more housing for the rich, not developing depressed areas for the benefit of the poor.
2
Scammers gotta Scam, Trumpers gotta trump. But I repeat myself.
Sad.
6
But of course! Who do you think wrote this tax break/investment policy?
As has been known for generations, tax laws are written for the wealthy. Their lawyers, accounting and investment firms own the pen, paper, politicians and p.r. machines behind most all of these laws.
4
Grifters gutting our country. And they dare call Democrats the unpatriotic ones
12
You buried the lead. Title should have read “Facebook founder and Democratic supporter Sean Parker’s tax deferral idea, supported by Corey Booker...”
4
How surprising.
3
I’m not sure if the NYT moderators/filters will let me use the symbol; so let me just say: Hashtag, Swampy.
3
Once again, something good done by the president turned into something bad to feed the hate-Trump New York Times frenzy
3
@Labete
How is this good? A tax break that was intended to help poor people ended up lining the pockets of the wealthy. Misappropriation.
In what world is this good?
3
So, the Chosen One is stealing from poor and vunerable Americans? What a surprise. NOT!!! What a low life...
4
Scammers gotta Scam, Cheaters gotta Cheat, and Trumpers gotta Trump.
Sad. 2020.
3
I always figured that if I had my house paid off and a few million in the bank, I’d turn all my energies to my passions: educating my family, playing outside (camping, fishing, kayaking, river rafting, backpacking), and attend a lot more live music. But the two billionaires I know personally never feel they have enough. They are in competition with the other billionaire set, and have a lot of pride in the idea that they have the Midas touch, and no one gets the better of them in a deal. One of them wants to leave each child and grandchild a Silicon Valley house and $10 million after taxes. Point is: without even getting into judging wether the Bully In Chief has any true political and geopolitical goals, one thing is certain: he intends to leave office having position his family to be in the 10’s of billions or 100’s of billions category. He wants to play with the really big boys: Putin, the Saudi princes, Adelson, Koch’s, Sackler’s, a gaggle of Goldman Sacks of you know what, and a cackle of Chinese gazillionaires. If you keep that goal forefront in your analysis of his words, conduct and policies, everything the CEO of Trump holdings does makes sense.
14
Only a fool would think that Trump would create tax changes that might help the 99%.
Trump has surrounded himself with oligarchs, both foreign and domestic, who intend to loot the USA for as much as possible before Trump is removed from office.
Trump represents the worst example of organized crime I've studied in my 39 years as a teacher. The nation has never seen such egregious erosion of our democracy, the rule of law, and common decency.
Finally, Retired Marine Gen Mattis is speaking out. Also, retired LT Gen USAF James Clapper is joining him. Clapper is is the former Director of National Intelligence. These guys realize the gravity of the situation and correctly placed "country" over Trump.
But with every breath Trump continues to subvert the few remaining patriots left in positions of importance. The IG's report on Comey was pure politics but it told us that the IG's office is now under control of the Trump syndicate.
How many more agencies must be corrupted before Trump suspends the next election?
10
And that is what is going to happen. Trump is well aware of awaits him once he is no longer in office as well as the cabal who may well be implicated. What should concern everyone is what Trump is prepared to do to make sure it does not happen.
5
@Jenny Apple
Why is it a State attorney general (or a group of them) have not charged Don the Con with racketeering under the RICO statutes? How can this be? It is not as far-fetched as it sounds: lawyer Daniel Sheehan and his Chrystic Institute used RICO to bring some of the Iran-Contra traitors into court. If not attorney generals, then at least the Center for Constitutional Rights? ACLU? SOMEONE?
2
One more year of this corrupt and venal administration and it’s crackpot president. If a Democratic administration takes over in 2020 there will be so much damage to the country it will take 4 years just to undo the destruction. Maybe more.
So it’s time to get your act together Dems. Taking back the country is mandatory, not optional. All your grand policy goals will have to take a back burner even if you do get elected, because cleaning up the mess Trump leaves will have to be done first before a new house can be built.
5
Whatever Trump can do to benefit himself and his ilk, he will do.
No surprises here.
3
Even worse... economic immigration..
I am not sure but that the investment in poor communities schemes also allow wealthy foreigners to buy US entrance visas for themselves and their families. This is only half the story it seems to me. And this might be called the unseen immigrant situation. (How are these visas counted? I know they exist. I don't know the details.)
1
Did anyone happen to notice in passing that Cory Booker was one of the sponsors of this?
A total creature of wall street, giving them political cover with his Newark street cred.
4
@Bobby He needs donors for his campaign.
1
Why would anyone believe that Republicans want to help poor people? They have zero history of helping anyone but other rich people. They are just much better at lying about their programs and legislation.
Never trust a Republican.
5
The LeFrak partner for the North Miami project is the Soffer Family. They own the Aventura Mall one of the most successful high end malls in the country. If you look at the Opportunity Zone map you will see the opportunity zone just happens to encompass the mall and nothing else around it. No doubt this is a depressed area - million dollar condos, Bloomingdales, golf courses, private clubs etc. What a joke......Its as if someone took a pencil and outlined the mall into the zone even though this is one of the most expensive submarkets in South Florida and is absolutely not a depressed area.
Its also interesting to note the mall is in the middle of an expansion. Hmm, lets see I build a $250 million addition and if I hold it for 10 years no Capital Gains.
I thought the Republicans don't like picking winners and losers in the economy and avoid interfering in the "free" market system. Or even better, they preach leave decisions to states. What hypocrites.
Bottom line - the stench here is overwhelming. Republican capital cronyism at its best brought to you by the Real Estate "Expert" with 3 bankruptcies under his belt and his son in law whose family just happens to be in the real estate business.
5
Nobody expects Trump/GOP to do anything but help the richest among us. And they do so in a way that manages to have almost no benefit for anyone else. The reality is that slashing the taxes of these projects long term is a double whammy to the "rest" of Americans. These developers make cities hottest areas unaffordable for most Americans and then reduce the amount of taxes these scammers have to pay. This is absolutely devastating.
3
What happens when you elect people to government office who don't even believe in the concept of 'good government'? A lot more of this type of stuff. So called small government conservatives are just thieves with a good cover story.
6
Excellent reporting!
These build-outs will be concrete wastelands when the next economic bust arrives. Poverty will permeate deeper into the areas, and to the people, that these tax gifts were intended to
help.
I know a few of these people connected to companies cited in this article. For many years, they simply kept buying more art, real estate, expensive cars, and antiques.
You think these eccentric, tax-dodging cronies would construct sneaker, toy, and apparel factories within these zones thereby helping those who are disadvantaged....some to the point of prostitution?
No, that’s not what anyone one of them will do. They’re building parking garages, retail, and storage facilities so the few that afford the latter can store the excess waste of American consumerism; toys, sneakers, apparel, housewares etc.....all made where? Trump? Navarro? Kudlow? Answer....??
I’ve never thought I would witness so many dragon heads within this country. The middle and lower class continue to be trampled and the country nosedives deeper and deeper in debt.
Elizabeth Warren can’t be elected soon enough.
7
No surprise here. There have been all sorts of not particularly successful government schemes to get jobs into poor areas. One minor complaint, that the provision was “tucked” into the bill. All of the summaries that I saw on the bill covered this provision. This sort of thing is a cheap shot, not news reporting.
Pigs at the trough! As though that Facebook billionaire couldn't live on the billions remaining after capital gains taxes. As Tolstoy asked, "How much land does a man need?"
5
The party that trots out so-called religious values when it serves their purpose conveniently forgot any such values when they set up this huge tax windfall for themselves & their wealthy pals. Where are people's values of right and wrong in the face of such avarice? It's nauseating to see luxury-this and luxury-that everywhere we turn. Housing, schools, sporting events, concerts, even health care ...everything has pricing that enables elites to set themselves apart from lesser-thans. There's always been that element but it has exploded during the last few decades, with the result that more $$ shifts to fewer people. We need to reduce our carbon footprint and use of resources, not increase it with larger spaces, more stuff, and endless wastefulness. What's happening in the U.S. is shameful.
2
...and yet he will get re-elected for another term. what's wrong with this picture?!
2
The relentless attack on the President continues. Millions of regular Joes and Janes also benefited from the tax cut directly and indirectly (stimulated economy and provided jobs) and the 1st story on the electronic edition focuses on the few (evil!) rich who benefited? I bet the Clinton’s and Obama’s and many leftwing tech billionaires also benefited a great deal—but no mention of that here. Too bad.
40
@ehillesum as much as I dislike Trump I agree. Over-liberalness pandering to the audience is becoming more and more transparent to myself.
6
@ehillesum
The benefit to the average taxpayer is miniscule compared to the windfall reaped by the wealthy, funds that could be used for needed infrastructure, healthcare, etc. Luxury apartment towers are not "needed infrastructure."
162
Yeah, nothing like a 95/5 split of the loot to make me proud of Donald Trump.
70
The tax break was a very good idea. My family benefited and we are on the semi-low end. A lower tax bill was nice for a change. As for the wealthy or corporations, they did what they usually do: put it where it will maximize growth. Maybe pay off some debt. But take care of the poor and rehab old neighborhoods? Some probably did. Bottom line, everyone benefited in some way; The more one made, the larger the break. Common sense economics. The POTUS cannot dictate how someone uses the money nor threaten the wealthy or corporations to use it in dilapidated neighborhoods or to feed the poor. That would be a dictatorship type attitude. So he did the best he could for all and hoped that a sense of being "thy brothers keeper" would take care of the rest. Democrats and Republicans from all economic situations used the break according to their conscience. And that is the way it is. Cannot blame the POTUS for that.
2
I was living in Manhattan in 1962 when some local tenements were demolished and a high-rise housing project was built. It was quite successful and the neighborhood was pleasant and safe. In later years the money to maintain the infrastructure and services for the residents dried up and the environment deteriorated. Such projects don't magically become self-supporting. Conversely, raising real estate prices will just force poor people to move. It won't provide jobs because the hotel magnates would rather hire newly immigrated illegal workers, who work hearder for less.
3
Now let's be fair.
Those $400 million dollar Lotto opportunities come round a few times each year.
Thanks to this NYT article, the winners of said lotteries now know what to do with the winnings. No chance of funds being siphoned off by opportunists. The winners can invest them in their communities to help the needy and not so needy.
Another public service by the news media.
1
Actually lottery winnings aren’t eligible, only capital gains can be used for O-Zone investments.
3
Okay, so now we are counting on "trickle-down" real estate development? Seriously? Sigh.
Don't you "pro tax incentives" people see that the profits are primarily going into the pockets of the already obscenely wealthy? Do you honestly think the lower income people in these "opportunity zones" are going to benefit from shampooing some rich person's dog at the doggie spa?
Come on, people. This is yet another tax scam by rich people to benefit other rich people.
Andrew Yang, the Democrat running for president who favors a universal basic income, is starting to look better and better. As much as I appreciate Elizabeth Warren's carefully detailed plans for restructuring America to benefit everyone, I fear she's up against such a rapacious mob of bankers and real estate developers she'll never get anywhere.
Let's just cut to the chase and start giving the money directly to people instead of letting the vulture capitalists rip 90% of the benefit off the top.
6
Trump has become a permanent scar on the face of America. It will forever be there reminding us of the error we made. Let it be a stimulus to an entire nation to be more prudent in who we run for offie and what our democracy really means to us and the world.
5
Meanwhile, this doesn't hurt the people who have bought Mr. Trump's racist-tinged hyperbole about "the inner cities." Of course it doesn't help them either, which is par for the course for this presidency, but that doesn't seem to matter. Years from now they'll probably look back with admiration for the magnitude and the brilliance of the giant con (even - or especially - if it turns out that the "falling out" of people like Anthony Scaramucci and Neil Cavuto is part of it). "That makes me smart" - remember? So when Mr. Trump crows, "I had the absolute right" to release on Twitter a classified U.S. drone photo from Iran, they concur: "yes, let him run things without any restraint or accountability - after all, he's smart!"
4
Do all of those Republican voters, the 90% or so who in polls say that they still think favorably on Trump's performance as POTUS, really believe that what he and his administration have done is good for most of them or their children or anyone else but the top 1%? Surely all those millions of Republican voters can't be as naive and gullible as those MAGA-hat-wearers we see at Trump rallies, can they?
5
It is called gentrification, only this time the taxpayers, community residents, and local governments are really being fleeced.
You don't think these real estate developers and wealthy financiers are also going to be demanding that the communities give them a property tax break where they are building their high end, upscale "properties," do you?
Cautionary Tale: We used to live in Syracuse, NY where an infamous real estate developer got himself a 30-year tax break from the city for building one of the ugliest malls over an oil dump. The workers who built the mall had all kinds of toxic and allergic reactions, and the ugly mall required lots of city services esp. police. It wasn't long before the upscale stores left and there were a growing number of empty stores.
What do we call Trump and his capitalist cronies benefitting from Don the Con's capital gains tax bonanza?
Welfare Tycoons!
Sure hope the Democrats get their act together and hype this Trumped-up, self-serving, double-dealing, conflict-of-interest tax windfall for the wealthy real estate speculators and investors.
Trump's base probably won't care, but at least some of the Independent voters likely will, and Democrats need those Independents to win.
Thank you NY Times for pointing this out. Keep picking up the rocks and seeing what crawls out from Trump"s Welfare for the Rich Government Program.
3
Frustration turns to anger but anger turns to rage when unfairness turns into lying and that's what is happening with this bait-and-switch tax break. Our betters can treat their underlings as unfairly as they like, but the moment when adults are treated like children to be lied to, even if it's for their own good, the mother instinct to defend the inner conscience from complicity in a falsehood is a formidable force to be reckoned with, even if the ones being lied to are the little people.
3
This article makes my stomach turn. When is enough, enough? There is only so much money that one needs to be comfortable, happy and provided for. When I read about these rich, greedy people that are always looking for a loophole not to pay their fair share, I think about the lessons they are teaching their children.
Somehow these men have made accumulation into a game at the expense of communities and the rest of our country. They will never come close to spending the money they already have and odds are their children will be the next handful of greedy, rig the systems individuals. Just look at trump and his family. Always cheating, always gaming and this time we are all suffering from it.
5
I'd like to see Elizabeth Warren's plan for preventing this kind of corruption.
2
Meanwhile, this doesn't hurt the people who have bought Mr. Trump's racist-tinged hyperbole about "the inner cities." Of course it doesn't help them either, which is par for the course for this presidency, but that doesn't seem to matter. Years from now they'll probably look back with admiration for the magnitude and the brilliance of the giant con (even - or especially - if it turns out that the "falling out" of people like Anthony Scaramucci and Neil Cavuto is part of it.) "That makes me smart!" - remember? So when Mr. Trump crows, "I had the absolute right" to release on Twitter a classified U.S. drone photo from Iran, they concur: "Yes, let him run things without any restraint or accountability - after all, he's smart!"
Their excuse is always "well, it's not illegal". Of course it's not, THEY bribed (or ARE) lawmakers to make it legal. It doesn't even rate on an ethical or moral scale. These crooks have choices - no one is forcing them to build these castles in the sky for the rich in tax-advantaged areas. My blanket statement: no DECENT person would do this.
I had the opportunity to buy multiple townhouses in lower Manhattan after 9/11 at GREAT discount because their owners wanted OUT asap. I could have made many millions. I chose NOT to do so, knowing full well that this disaster was transitory and not wanting ever to feel that I had taken advantage of people at their lowest. I am not Steve Mnuchin or Wilbur Ross, and I am proud of that. How much crooked money can one person spend?
Your worth should be gauged by what you do, how you make your money and how you spend it. How does it help society as a whole? If you want to see the antithesis of "good", just look at Trump.
4
Did anyone seriously think this would turn out otherwise?
1
Rats are smart, as anyone who has worked or played with them knows. In normal urban areas, like New York City, Paris or Shanghai, rats live in a hierarchical society. There is typically anywhere from 20 to 50 in such a group. You typically have an alpha male; and also a "tester rat" (for lack of a better term). Their primary purpose is to eat potentially poisoned food (or "test it"). If they get sick, the rest of the pack will avoid the poisoned food. They are very smart (equal or greater to that of an average dog), and they are excellent swimmers. They've been found alive in the open ocean where ships sank at sea; 4 days prior. My point is Donald Trump is not only the "alpha" rat, he is the "king rat; and he has many underlings; including "tester rats". Btw, the reason most people don't like rats is because they don't have a fur on their tail. Otherwise, they would probably be treated more like squirrels, which are much less intelligent animals. They do make excellent pets. The only drawback is their short lifespan: mice live about a year, and rats live about 2 years. I have had both; so of whom lived almost twice that long.
2
Did anybody really think that this would turn out any differently that it has? Seriously, when did trump ever do anything that didn't make him and his best buds richer? When did he ever show any interest in helping anybody who wasn't rich?
Get real, America.
2
These billionaires running amok are destroying our country. The expression “stinking rich” comes to mind. These people have widened the gap between their silos of cash and the middle class, now working two and three jobs and fast becoming the poor. History abounds with examples of what happened in societies poisoned by this inequality. The Romans succeeded in flat out destroying theirs. It can happen. It is happening. Check out an article in the Feb.21, 2017 issue of the Atlantic by Walter Schiedel, “The Only Thing, Historically, That's Curbed Inequality: Catastrophe.” You’ll need a stiff drink after but it provides incredibly important and interesting insight.
4
Don’t look now, but just as many developers and real estate moguls are Democrats as Republicans.
1
Displace low income people, gentrify, reap a huge tax break, repeat.
4
This may have a lot to do with the fact that the Trump 2020 reelection campaign is raising huge amounts of money.
I wonder how much of this money is coming from these wealthy investors?
And for Jared Kushner and his family to be benefitting from this plan shows how brazenly corrupt the Trump administration is.
3
Doesn't it figure? Donald Trump has helped to create a useless real estate boom in cities like New Orleans and Miami that are in grave danger of being under water within the lifetimes of many people alive now (but not his, most likely, so why would he care?).
2
Trump has worked tirelessly to:
- intentionally orphan thousands of migrant children.
- demand the immediate ejection of foreign nationals who are in our country for life-saving treatments, creating a virtual death sentence.
- legitimize Putin, despite his brazen intervention in our democracy, and to validate his illegal taking of Crimea.
- eliminate health insurance coverage for millions of Americans.
- wage an unnecessary trade war with the world, depressing our economy and imposing a tax on millions of poor and middle-class Americans.
- pass permanent tax cuts for the wealthy, as one could have predicted for Republicans, while the middle-class cuts are set to expire.
- give himself and his family tax breaks worth hundreds of millions.
- enrich himself through his shameless promotion of his business, as well as through emoluments.
- and numerous other self-serving and spiteful acts.
These actions are the result of today's Republican Party and their voters. This is on you Republicans.
3
"Less taxes for the wealthiest" is the one and only driving force of the Republican Party. They stand for absolutely nothing else.
Hopefully the rest of the country will wise up by 2020 and stop being conned - vote them out!
4
If there's one thing that you can count on, it's that Trump is going to take care of the 1%'ers of this country.
3
If any dear reader thinks, even for a second, that any of these fat cats( sometimes metaphorically, sometimes not.) will see the scales of justice tilt righteously, here is more proof of that impossibility. The price of cocktails will go up, and the poor will be tread asunder.
2
Well, I'll be hornswoggled, they did it again.
2
How do you get flood insurance to build in New Orleans? From the federal government, right? Your tax dollars at work!
1
We should be more responsible with the federal budget, more supportive of our less advantaged communities, and pour less largesse on the un-needy rich by taking a meaningful part of the defense budget and putting it into programs where communities need it, not into the military industrial complex, which is a feeding trough for rich and powerful corporations and members of Congress, and a dangerous toy for our loony, lying president.
3
It's not Trump. It's not even the Republicans. It's the tax code - the most corrupt institution in America, written by and for racketeers.
It will never get fixed. The ordinary person is clueless about how much the rich are scamming, so there will never be a political base for tax reform. Meanwhile the pharoahs and sultans of the 1% grow wealthier by the day.
2
After over 30 months in office anyone who still thinks that anything Trump does is for the benefit of someone other than himself is living in a fantasy world which will turn into a nightmare in the future. Trump's psychopathy, best described as narcissistic egocentricity, filters everything he encounters. The amazing phenomenon is that so many believe that what he does is good for them and the country that he was selected to govern. Is Donald J. Trump the best that American democracy can produce today? If so, we are doomed.
4
“Perhaps 95 percent of this is doing no good for people we care about.”
Depends on who you care about. Regardless of original intent, the people who added this to the tax bill knew how it would play out.
I'm sure that some people thought that voting for an unscrupulous real estate 'magnate' to act as our president was a good idea. I wasn't one of them. But of course, I'm neither extremely rich nor a friend of his family. Guess that is redundant, isn't it. You really have to laugh in a way. Americans have been crying buckets over how much money CEOs are making for how long now ? So they vote to make one our president. The money that these friends of his are going to make off this scam ? Makes what these CEOs are making a relative drop in the bucket. But take heart. You, Mr and Ms Average American, are going to get to pay the taxes that these people are not. Well done.
4
The Swamp, with the pumps running full tilt. Only problem is they're not draining, they're filling.
5
This is one of those no kidding “dog bites man” stories.
Eliminating taxes for the wealthy is the ONLY policy Republicans in government, especially Congress, actually care about. It is a law of their nature that has been true since Reagan.
All the rest - pretending to care about the religious right, abortion, gun rights etc. - is merely means to an end. (OK, the racism is probably real.)
You can easily understand anything the GOP does through this lens, especially the 2017 trillion-dollar boondoggle of a giveaway to their rich donors.
3
Billionaires government ordained bonanza! While Republicans run every two years stoking fear and hate with their low information, grievance filled base, telling them the scariest words and biggest lie "Beware when you hear I'm from the government and I'm here to help!" The billionaire campaign donors laugh at the con that never fails to keep the GOP in power, and the rich ever richer, and the Treasury nearing bankruptcy.
2
How are OZ’s any different from all the projects dictators employ to enrich the oligarchs who keep the dictator in power? We would all benefit if these OZ areas really did include housing for the middle class and poor so they could contribute to the city in which they live. And this housing for the multitudes of the people who really need help would create jobs that might include some of the people who eventually would move into the newly developed projects and shop at the local retail businesses. But to expect Trump to enrich anyone but himself and his family and his millionaire and billionaire supporters is simply naive. As the saying goes. "When you've got it, flaunt it." Trump is in the "flaunting" business and not interested in being president because it is a “financially” uninteresting job and does not pay a decent salary.
5
I’m more worried about NIMBYism blocking any proposed new construction.
At least in the Bay Area, there is a massive housing shortage. This might not be the ideal way to get it, but we need more housing built. If the choice is this or more decades of making it worse, it doesn’t seem the worst thing.
2
@Tom--this is an extraordinarily expensive way to build new housing (and the investment is not limited to housing--some will bleed off to City Center-type development). E.g. the Uptown area is an OZ. Oakland and US taxpayers could subsidize say 20% of construction cost (w benefits flowing to the renter in the form of lower rents) or US taxpayers could subsidize millionaires at 37% at the Fed level and 12.8% at CA level to build too-expensive market rate housing.
1
Ok, so let’s change our planning laws so it’s possible to build in less expensive ways. We have made it uneconomical to build anything at smaller scales, so this is the only thing that happens.