Agency Coordination and Opportunity Zones
Fordham Urban Law Journal, Vol. 48, No. 5, 2021
Northeastern University School of Law Research Paper No. 422 (2021)
24 Pages Posted: 23 Mar 2022 Last revised: 3 Aug 2022
Date Written: September 1, 2021
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
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation