A spokesperson for Biden’s transition team referred to the campaign plan and declined to answer questions about what changes his Treasury Department might make or what efforts in Congress he would support.
Lawmakers from both parties have already put forth a variety of bills.
Scott has said his top priority is adding reporting requirements. A bill he introduced in December would direct Treasury to post data annually on investment funds claiming the breaks, and to track job growth, poverty reduction and other economic indicators at five-year intervals. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, proposed a reporting bill with lots of other restrictions attached.
“The good news is people on both sides of the aisle, including both presidential candidates, have expressed support for reinstating reporting requirements,” Emily Lavery, a legislative assistant for Scott, said in a statement.
Reassigning Zones
If Republicans keep control of the Senate, changes to the tax rules are less likely to come from Congress, said Brett Theodos, a senior researcher at the Urban Institute. Instead, the program’s future could depend on who becomes the next Treasury secretary, he said.
“A more Wall Street-oriented Democrat is going to be more interested in seeing this program continue as it is,” potentially adding reporting requirements, said Theodos. But a Treasury secretary critical of subsidies for big investors would have “a lot of tools at their disposal” to reform the program, he said.
Critics have taken issue with the selection certain zones, such as a trendy arts district in Los Angeles and swaths of Brooklyn. And some have suggested replacing those that don’t meet traditional ideas of struggling neighborhoods with zones that do.
“That’s something that it seems both sides would be interested in,” said Shafron Hawkins, a former Scott staffer who was involved in the legislation and has since founded a trade group for opportunity zone funds.
One big potential change could affect the certification process for opportunity zone funds. Right now, funds self-certify their tax-advantaged status, but Treasury could, for instance, force investors to make detailed disclosures before getting the benefits, said Michael Novogradac, managing partner of Novogradac & Co. His firm leads an influential working group that plans to advise the new administration on ways to change the certification process.
“We hope to have that together in the next 30 to 45 days, in advance of President-elect Biden taking office,” he said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.