Opportunity Zones

Qualified census tracts are those that have a poverty rate of at least 20 percent of a median income that does not exceed 80 percent of the area median income. The opportunity fund model encourages investors to pool their resources in opportunity zones, increasing the scale of investments going to underserved areas.

The program provides a federal tax incentive for investors to re-invest unrealized capital gains into opportunity zones through opportunity funds. Under the terms of the program, the governor of each state must submit a plan to the federal government designating up to 25 percent of the qualified census tracts in their state as opportunity zones, which is then subject to approval of the Secretary of the Treasury.