Opportunity Zones Offer Shreveport a Funding Pipeline of Billions

Op-ed content originally sourced from USA TODAYRecently, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott was seen on Bloomberg, the national news program, passionately spoke about the new Opportunity Zone (OZ) legislation’s impact of possibility on cities such as Shreveport. The South Carolina Republican, Senator Scott, co-authored the legislation with liberal New Jersey Democratic Sen. Corey Booker, and President Donald Trump enthusiastically signed it into law. Gov. John Bel Edwards has now designated several census tracts inside Shreveport as Opportunity Zones.This rare bipartisan legislation offers Shreveport a funding pipeline into billions of dollars to support local economic development projects in the city’s distressed neighborhoods. Presently, there is over $6.1 trillion in capital gains earnings sitting on the sideline. The new law allows individuals, corporations and non-profits to place that money into opportunity funds and receive substantial capital gains relief.According to Smart Cities, investors are seeking projects that 1) offer the path of least resistance; 2) have a easy identifiable and underwritten project pipeline; and 3) favor coordination among state and local regulating authorities.To read how the opportunity fund investments works, visit the article source.