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Analyst: 'Opportunity Zones' May Not Provide Desired Opportunities

The federal government approved Arizona’s "opportunity zones" this spring. Opportunity zones allow developers who invest in low-income areas to get tax breaks; the provision was included in the tax cut bill approved by Congress late last year.

Arizona’s opportunity zones are generally in the northern and western parts of the state, although there are also some along Arizona’s eastern border.

But Vanessa Brown Calder doesn’t think opportunity zones, or “o-zones” will have the desired effect of helping to revitalized economically depressed areas.

Brown Calder, a policy analyst at Cato Institute, thinks this program will not necessarily help the people it’s intending to help.

opportunity zones map
Arizona "opportunity zones" approved by the U.S. Treasury in April 2018.

Mark Brodie is a co-host of The Show, KJZZ’s locally produced news magazine. Since starting at KJZZ in 2002, Brodie has been a host, reporter and producer, including several years covering the Arizona Legislature, based at the Capitol.