Trenton, Hamilton to receive Trump tax benefits
TRENTON » The President Donald Trump administration recognizes Trenton and parts of Hamilton Township are specially qualified to benefit from tax reform.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury and IRS on Monday designated Trenton, Hamilton and dozens of other communities throughout New Jersey and America as being Qualified Opportunity Zones, putting those distressed enclaves in line to receive preferential tax treatment on new investments.
“I am very excited about the prospects for Opportunity Zones,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said Monday in a press statement. “Attracting needed private investment into these low-income communities will lead to their economic revitalization and ensure economic growth is experienced throughout the nation.”
Trump’s signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act established these so-called Opportunity Zones to spur private investment in struggling communities like Hamilton’s Bromley neighborhood. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration took advantage of the program by identifying the capital city, neighboring Hamilton Township and other blighted sectors as Opportunity Zones and asking the federal government to approve his selections.
“I’m pleased the Treasury Department has accepted all 169 sites I proposed last month for designation as Opportunity Zones,” Murphy, a Democrat, said Monday in a press statement. “Now, these cities and towns will have additional means to generate economic growth throughout their respective communities and, more importantly, create economic opportunities for their residents.”
Diana Rogers, director of Trenton’s Department of Housing and Economic Development, previously suggested the 7.5-squaremile capital city can be uplifted through the Opportunity Zones program.
“We see this as an opportunity to make investments in the city of Trenton,” she told The Trentonian in an interview last month, “and to address areas of the city where we see possibilities for stabilizing neighborhoods as well as in areas where there have been limited investment in prior years.”
Democratic Hamilton Councilman Jeff Martin previously suggested the township can greatly benefit from the program. On Tuesday he expressed gratitude in the Trump and Murphy administrations placing Hamilton in better position to receive new economic stimulus as Qualified Opportunity Zones.
“I am excited for Hamilton and more specifically, the Bromley section of Hamilton, which will hopefully experience an influx of redevelopment projects,” Martin said Tuesday via email. “I thank the Federal Government and Governor Murphy for accepting our recommendation.”
The Republican president’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed through Congress without any Democratic support, although the Opportunity Zones program was originally conceived of as a bipartisan initiative of New Jersey’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Mnuchin, the Trump administration official who serves as U.S. Treasury secretary, said Monday in his press statement that the White House “will continue working with states and the private sector to encourage investment and development in Opportunity Zones and other economically disadvantaged areas and boost economic growth and job creation.”
Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and all U.S. territories were empowered to nominate low-income communities like Bromley to be designated as Qualified Opportunity Zones, which are eligible for sweet tax deferment benefits.
“Qualified Opportunity Zones retain this designation for 10 years,” the U.S. Department of the Treasury said Monday in a news release. “Investors can defer tax on any prior gains until no later than Dec. 31, 2026, so long as the gain is reinvested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund, an investment vehicle organized to make investments in Qualified Opportunity Zones. In addition, if the investor holds the investment in the Opportunity Fund for at least 10 years, the investor would be eligible for an increase in its basis equal to the fair market value of the investment on the date that it is sold.”