One of the Ohio Chamber’s tax public policy priorities is the incentivization of Opportunity Zones to drive investment into the state of Ohio. The Opportunity Zones were created as part of the 2017 Federal Tax Reform Act to drive investment into economically depressed areas as identified by each state. Ohio identified 320 qualified areas. In the current General Assembly, Sen. Kirk Schuring introduced Senate Bill 8 to create incentives for Opportunity Zone investors. The Ohio Chamber sent a letter in support of the bill.

At a recent hearing, Sen. Schuring offered substitute language that changed the investment incentive to a 10 percent tax credit if the investor’s funds are used in an Opportunity Zone project. The credit is nonrefundable but can be transferred and carried forward for five years. Gov. Mike DeWine then announced a similar Opportunity Zone tax credit when his budget was unveiled. We believe this may signal the inclusion of SB 8 into the budget bill. Once the budget bill text is available, we will confirm that fact and provide more detail on the Opportunity Zone investment program incentives.