Last month Jenny and I attended Main Street Now 2019, the annual Main Street America™ Conference which was held in Seattle.
Main Street America is a grassroots network made up of small cities, towns and urban commercial districts that work on preservation based economic development and revitalization.
The work of the Main Street America network is increasingly vital for the support of local business communities that are relentlessly decaying in the face of the huge disparity in investment capital between Wall Street and Main Street.
One of the unique focuses of the conference this year was the topic of Opportunity Zones. Created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Opportunity Zone program was designed to stimulate private investment in distressed communities throughout the country in exchange for capital gain tax incentives.
In June 2018, more than 8700 communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories were designated as qualified Opportunity Zones and will retain their designation for 10 years. By making an appropriate investment in a zone, private individuals may defer tax on almost any capital gain until 2026 AND pay NO capital gains tax on the investment in the zone.
The tax benefits provided for investments in opportunity zones are a welcome addition to the self-directed investment tool we launched last year—Crowdfund Mainstreet. We are working toward building a robust finance ecosystem for the small businesses that create local jobs and preserve local character. Please join us in the movement to fund and grow small businesses throughout the nation by investing in a business on Crowdfund Mainstreet. We hope to offer Opportunity Zone investments on the platform in the near future.
If you’re a small business owner looking to raise capital, feel free to schedule a call with us to explore how we can help you. We can also work with you to determine whether you are in an Opportunity Zone and, if so, how you can take advantage of that.
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