Rule changes proposed by the Trump administration last week could let banks classify investments in professional sports stadiums as aid to the poor, and then give the financial institutions a significant tax break for their efforts.
The changes are part of an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) plan to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which requires banks to invest in low-income communities.
Both bank regulators are run by appointees of President Donald Trump.
As Bloomberg reported Monday, “the agencies drafted a long list hypothetical ways banks could seek to meet their obligations [under the Community Reinvestment Act], including this sentence on page 100 of their proposal: ‘Investment in a qualified opportunity fund, established to finance improvements to an athletic stadium in an opportunity zone that is also [a low- or moderate-income] census tract.'”
“There are well over a dozen NFL venues nestled in so-called opportunity zones,” Bloomberg noted. “They include M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, home of the National Football League’s Ravens, which this year completed $120 million in upgrades such as a new sound system… There also are facilities for professional baseball, basketball, soccer, and hockey teams in the zones.”
Under the 2017 tax law signed by President Donald Trump, real estate developers and financial institutions that invest in “opportunity zones” receive a capital gains tax cut.
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