[ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: No more tax handouts for wealthy investors

Petition to Congress:
"Put an end to 'opportunity zones' and similar programs that make wealthy
investors richer and incentivize gentrification."

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

Dear Jack,

[ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: No more
tax handouts for wealthy
investors

Michael Milken is a corrupt former Wall Street trader who served two years
in prison for insider training and was the inspiration for the notoriously
greedy character Gordon Gekko in the movie "Wall Street." He's also pals
with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross,
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.^1

Not surprisingly, Mnuchin appears to have personally intervened to help
Milken personally benefit from an "opportunity zone" tax break designed to
help wealthy investors exploit poor areas.^2

Mnuchin's apparent corruption is business-as-usual for the Trump
administration. But it wouldn't even be possible if it weren't for
opportunity zones, a bad idea that isn't working and needs to go away. We
need to seize on the new attention Mnuchin's corruption is bringing to the
opportunity zone tax scams to finally end this handout to wealthy
investors.

[ [link removed] ]Tell Congress: No more tax handouts for wealthy investors. Click here
to sign the petition.

Opportunity zones incentivize destructive gentrification, pure and simple.
The current opportunity zone program was part of the Trump Tax Scam, but
the idea existed in various forms for years. In theory, a tax break on
investment in low-income areas will spur development and create jobs. In
reality, because there are no rules saying opportunity zone investments
must benefit the community, they turn out to be just another bonus for the
already wealthy.^3

Some wealthy investors already owned property in areas now designated as
opportunity zones, giving them a tax break on projects they already
intended to build. In other cases, old data meant the area had long since
gentrified and only wealthy landowners benefited. Most of the time, the
zones fueled massive gentrification – giving investors an incentive to
build unaffordable housing in low-income neighborhoods and push out the
people who lived there first.^4

Mnuchin's gift to his pal Milken is just one glaring example. Milken spent
years rehabilitating his image through his Milken Institute, which
advocated for opportunity zones. After a series of meetings at Milken
Institute events, Mnuchin personally intervened to deem a property Milken
owned in a Reno, Nevada investment area an opportunity zone, giving Milken
a massive tax benefit.^5

The Wall Street investor class in America convinced members of both
parties that tax incentives like opportunity zones were a great idea. But
Mnuchin's corrupt dealings show how they help the super-rich at the
expense of the rest of us. We need to make sure Congress strikes at the
root of the problem by ending these tax breaks for gentrification for
good.

Tell Congress: No more tax handouts for wealthy investors. Click the link
below to sign the petition:

[ [link removed] ][link removed]

Thank you for speaking out,

Heidi Hess, Co-Director
[ [link removed] ]CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

References:

 1. Eric Lipton and Jesse Drucker, "[ [link removed] ]Symbol of ’80s Greed Stands to
Profit From Trump Tax Break for Poor Areas," The New York Times, Oct.
26, 2019.
 2. Ibid.
 3. Angela Peoples, "[ [link removed] ]Opportunity zones are just an opportunity for the
rich to gentrify poor neighborhoods," MarketWatch, Oct. 29, 2019.
 4. Ibid.
 5. Lipton and Drucker, "[ [link removed] ]Symbol of ’80s Greed Stands to Profit From
Trump Tax Break for Poor Areas."

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