A new data analysis of opportunity zone investments paints a brighter picture of where the tax-advantaged money has been heading—with just 1.5% of investments made in 2019 going into census tracts that didn’t qualify for the incentives.
The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, in the Monday report, found 92.4% of $24 billion invested in opportunity funds went to “low-income communities” in 2019, and just over 6% went to areas that were allowed to be chosen because they adjoin the designated zones but have higher incomes. Up to 5% of the opportunity zones that states chose in early 2018 could be ...