Local officials hope an Opportunity Zone designation could bring benefits to the Town of Hamlet. The census tract containing Hamlet was recently nominated for the federal program by Governor Eric Holcomb.
Ron Gifford with the Starke County Economic Development Foundation told the Hamlet Town Council Wednesday that it’s another tool that can be used to help attract development. “It basically allows communities where there is a pretty high level of poverty and unemployment to get a benefit,” he explained. “And what it is, there’s a zillion dollars out there that people are holding in capital gains from either stock sales or property sales or something of that nature, and this allows them to put some of that capital gains money they’d otherwise have to pay tax on into zones like this.”
Gifford explained that money would go into a fund to help with industrial development. “It could come from anywhere,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be from just Starke County people. It can be from California. It can be anywhere. They invest the funds in that fund, and that fund could then help promote these sites here to bring somebody in. That might be another incentive that we can provide somebody.”
He said the Opportunity Zone designation still has to be approved by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. He expects that to happen shortly.
The program was created under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
