The Treasury Department’s internal watchdog is planning to investigate the Opportunity Zone program after three Democratic lawmakers called for a closer look at the initiative, acting Treasury Inspector General Richard Delmar told NBC News.
Delmar’s announcement came a few months after Sen. Cory BookerCory Anthony BookerTreasury watchdog to investigate Trump Opportunity Zone program NJ lawmaker flips endorsement to Biden after Booker drops out Deval Patrick knocks lack of diversity in Democratic debate MORE (D-N.J.), Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and Rep. Ron KindRonald (Ron) James KindTreasury watchdog to investigate Trump Opportunity Zone program How the 31 Democrats in Trump districts voted on impeachment Nearly all Democrats expected to back articles of impeachment MORE (D-Wis.) sent him a letter requesting an investigation after news reports indicated that friends of the administration were benefiting. The acting inspector general told NBC News that the report is expected to be completed by early spring.
The Opportunity Zone program was enacted with President TrumpDonald John TrumpDem lawmaker says Nunes threatened to sue him over criticism Parnas: U.S. ambassador to Ukraine removed to clear path for investigations into Bidens Five takeaways from Parnas’s Maddow interview MORE’s tax bill in 2017 and was designed to give tax incentives to those who invested in designated lower income areas.
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But The New York Times reported last year that Treasury Secretary Steven MnuchinSteven Terner MnuchinTreasury watchdog to investigate Trump Opportunity Zone program On The Money — Presented by Wells Fargo — Trump signs first phase of US-China trade deal | Senate to vote Thursday on Canada, Mexico deal | IRS provides relief for those with discharged student loans Hillicon Valley: Trump turns up heat on Apple over gunman’s phone | Mnuchin says Huawei won’t be ‘chess piece’ in trade talks | Dems seek briefing on Iranian cyber threats | Buttigieg loses cyber chief MORE told the department to grant Storey County, Nev., an opportunity zone status after spending time with the co-owner of a company in that county.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard NealRichard Edmund NealTreasury watchdog to investigate Trump Opportunity Zone program House poised to hand impeachment articles to Senate House to vote Wednesday on sending articles of impeachment to Senate MORE (D-Mass.) and Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyde (D-Ore.) also sent a letter to Mnuchin in November asking for more information on why that county was selected after the department had previously decided it was ineligible.
Other Democrats sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking the office to look into a variety of aspects of the program, including analysis on how the opportunity zones were decided.
The department and the IRS also released a draft form to gather information about investments made under the program as they faced scrutiny in October. NBC reported that as of January 2020, $7 billion in investments were made in the program, according to data collected by accounting firm Novogradac.
The department did not immediately return a request for comment.