Agency Coordination and Opportunity Zones

Abstract

The Opportunity Zone (OZ) program, which is designed to provide place-based equity investments into certain low-income communities, has potential upsides and pitfalls. The program is complicated, and it implicates numerous spheres of policy expertise. But currently, it is mostly administered by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a tax program.

This Essay seeks to find a technical-managerial solution to some of the problems of the OZ program, and that is agency coordination. It would have the IRS and the Office of Tax Policy (OTP) work with other agencies with expertise in place-based investment programs to administer the OZ program. It outlines the benefits and potential problems of coordination and discusses what tools could help improve this endeavor. It also proposes that the coordinated effort attempt to engage communities that live in OZs further in guiding the program.

Keywords: Taxation

JEL Classification: K34