Inside 208

**First meetings are tomorrow, June 30 in Region 5 (Flint) and Region 6 (Saginaw)**

Opportunity Zones are one of the largest federal community development tax incentives in the United States, recently renewed by federal tax changes. Opportunity Zones were designed to mobilize private investments in lower-income communities by incentivizing the reinvestment of capital gains into projects in designated census tracts. Incentives include deferral of tax liability, step-up in basis, and tax-free growth. Qualifying investments include real estate, business expansion, manufacturing, energy, and other projects.

As part of this renewal of Opportunity Zones through federal tax changes, in April the federal government released its list of eligible census tracts under Opportunity Zones 2.0 (OZ 2.0). See map of eligible tracts HERE.

By the end of September, the state will officially nominate up to 25% of those eligible tracts for designation as OZ 2.0 tracts. Designations are set to take effect on January 1, 2027, and will last 10 years; these designations cannot be revised.

Between now and that official nomination, interested parties are encouraged to share their input and recommendations with the State of Michigan via the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. A series of stakeholder roundtables will be scheduled this summer in each of the state’s prosperity regions; these will be coordinated with local housing and economic development organizations as they are scheduled.

Please register HERE for a meeting in your region.

*Each meeting will feature content tailored specifically to the census tracts and community conditions unique to that region.

Jennifer Rigterink is the League’s assistant state and federal affairs director, handling economic development, land use, and municipal services issues. She can be reached at [email protected]