Opportunity Zone Tracking Difficult Amid Federal, State Overlap

States piggybacking on the federal opportunity zone program—aimed at revitalizing low-income communities—have poured millions into tax incentives to spur the construction of apartment buildings, boutique hotels, and commercial real estate projects.

But a lack of transparency and data tracking between these federal and state efforts makes it tough to determine if the money is being spent wisely.

Some states created their own version of the federal program or tweaked existing tax benefits to attract investments to these areas, but state officials have no clear way to cross-reference projects or know how much they’ve been providing through their own tax breaks ...