By Michelle Inez Simon | The Sacramento Bee
California’s housing crisis is due in large part to a lack of supply, particularly when it comes to affordable housing, and it is hitting low-income individuals the hardest.
A provision of Trump’s 2017 tax bill helps the wealthy put off paying some taxes. Now California might use it to help build affordable housing.
The opportunity zone program lets investors take money they’ve made from selling something like stocks, real estate, or art, and put it into a fund that invests it in projects to uplift economically distressed communities.
Investors can defer paying their federal capital gains taxes on those investments until the end of 2026 or whenever they sell or exchange their investment – whichever comes first. The longer an investor keeps money in an opportunity zone investment, the smaller their tax liability becomes. If they keep an opportunity zone investment for 10 years or more, they don’t have to pay any taxes on the gains they make from their investment.
