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Arizona Submits Nominations For 'Opportunity Zones'

By Steve Goldstein
Published: Monday, April 9, 2018 - 8:10pm
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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has made it official. Arizona has submitted its nominations for so-called "Opportunity Zones."

Those are specific census tracts that can become eligible to take advantage of a provision of President Donald Trump’s recent tax reform package. And those tracts have to contain a population where at least 20 percent of the residents are below the federal poverty level.

The Opportunity Zones are areas where individuals and companies can reinvest capital gains taxes to receive a break in the future. And the winning zones are expected to have an advantage in attracting new investors.

Mila Besich-Lyra is executive director of the Copper Corridor Economic Development Coalition, which is in one of the census tracts nominated for an Opportunity Zone. The coalition is based in Oracle.

Besich-Lyra talked about how big could the Opportunity Zone designation be for an area like hers.

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