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**MARCH 23, 2022**

Kuttner on TAP

The Oligarchs Who Abuse Real Estate

****

State and local governments can uncover their identities and take some
of the profit out of their maneuvers.

On Monday, my On TAP

was about the federal Corporate Transparency Act, and its potential to
smoke out the hidden wealth of oligarchs, Russian and otherwise.
Regulations to carry out the CTA have not been finalized yet, and one
limitation is that it requires disclosure of beneficial ownership to
regulators-but not to the public.

One good complement is the use of state and local laws requiring public
disclosure of the true identities of oligarchs who often hide behind
trusts and straws, especially when they park their wealth in
super-luxury real estate that is often kept vacant. Philadelphia

and D.C.

both have local laws requiring disclosure of beneficial ownership.
Statewide legislation was introduced in California

last year to create a property registry disclosing beneficial owners,
but was not enacted.

In New York, following protests in Rockland County about shell companies
buying up properties in bulk, the legislature passed a law in 2019
requiring disclosure of true owners. The law caught the real estate
lobby off guard, and it was quickly watered down to exempt condos (which
are often used to park hidden wealth in New York City and provide a
lucrative market for developers).

Ideally, state and local legislation on beneficial ownership of real
estate should be part of a suite of laws that includes not just
disclosure, but transfer taxes on very expensive properties, extra taxes
on mansions, and penalties for keeping units vacant. Efforts on these
fronts are proceeding in several places, including San Francisco, L.A.,
San Jose, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Vermont.

Housing inflation and the scarcity of affordable rental units and
owner-occupied homes is a national scandal. It will be remedied by
measures addressed to failures and abuses in the housing sector, not by
higher interest rates that will only worsen the shortage.

As our colleague Chuck Collins, a national leader in this reform effort,
observes, real estate should be used to house people, not to hide
wealth.

****

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

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**Robert Kuttner's latest book is**

The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

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Democracy Summer
The
survival of Democrats in 2022 will depend heavily on turnout. Though
Donald Trump will not be on the ballot, he will be our not-so-secret
weapon. BY ROBERT KUTTNER

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Interest Rate Hikes Aren't a Solution for Supply Shocks

Policymakers are employing the wrong tools for the current
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Fertilizer Firms Spread Wealth to Shareholders as Farmers Weather
Extreme Prices

U.S. officials have banned fertilizer imports from key overseas
competitors while domestic firms fork over billions in stock buybacks.
BY LEE HARRIS

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