Senate Finance Chair Queries Opportunity Zone Funds
January 21, 2022 | Jimmy Atkinson | OpportunityDb
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has sent letters of inquiry to seven Qualified Opportunity Funds seeking information about projects in which the QOFs have invested and details on temporary and permanent jobs created.
Recipients of letters from Sen. Wyden included SkyBridge Capital, Baker Tilly, Cresset Partners, Hatters Sky, PTM Partners, Related Group, and Shopoff Realty Investments.
In his letters, Sen. Wyden, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, contends that Opportunity Zones may not live up to their promise. He wrote, “I have long been concerned that the Opportunity Zone program may permit wealthy investors another opportunity to avoid billions of dollars in taxes without meaningfully benefitting the distressed communities the program was intended to help.”
Sen. Wyden also referenced a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which noted that several OZ fund managers indicated that they would have proceeded with projects even if the tax incentives did not exist.
It appears that Sen. Wyden and his staff have carefully selected a handful of Opportunity Zone projects that invest in projects that he would consider to be abusive under his proposed Opportunity Zone reform legislation.
One such group to receive a letter is Shopoff Realty Investments, which is developing a luxury hotel and casino in an Opportunity Zone on the Las Vegas Strip.
