The Forgotten Ones?...
• Accomack and Northampton Co. EC
• Akron, Ohio EC
• Albany, GA EC
• Albany, Schenectady and Troy NY EC
• Albuquerque, NM EC
• Allendale Co. ALIVE EC
• Arizona Border Region Rural EC
• Beadle/Spink SD EC
• Birmingham, Alabama EC
• Bowling Green EC
• Bridgeport, CT EC
• Buffalo, NY EC
• Burlington, VT EC
• Central California EC
• Central Savannah River Rural EC
• Chambers Co. Rural EC
• Charleston, SC EC
• Charlotte, NC EC
• City of Deming EC
• City of East Prairie, Miss. Co. Rural EC
• City of Lewiston EC
• City of Lock Haven Federal EC
• City of Wastsonville / Co. of Santa Cruz EC
• Clare Co. EC
• Clark Co. / Las Vegas, NV EC
• Clinch-Powell EC
• Dallas, TX EC
• Denver, Colorado EC
• Des Moines, IA EC
• East Arkansas Rural EC
• East St. Louis EC
• El Paso, TX EC
• Fayette Co. / Haywood Co. Rural EC
• Fayette EC
• Five Star EC
• Flint, MI EC
• Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribe EC
• Four Corners EC
• FUTURO EC
• Greater Portsmouth EC
• Greene and Sumter Counties Rural EC
• Harrisburg, Pennsylvania EC
• Houston, Texas Enhanced EC
• Imperial Co. Rural EC
• Indianapolis, IN EC
• Jackson Co. Rural EC
• Jackson, MS EC
• Josephine Co. EC
• Kansas City, KS / Kansas City, MO
• La Jicarita EC
• Lake Co. Rural EC
• Los Angeles, CA EC
• Louisville, KY EC
• Lowell, MA EC
• Lower Yakima Co. Rural EC
• Macon Ridge EC
• Manchester, NH EC
• McDowell Co. EC
• Memphis, TN EC
• Metlakatla Indian EC
• Milwaukee, WI EC
• Minneapolis, MN EC
• Mississippi Co. Rural EC
• Molokai EC
• Muskegon, MI EC
• Nashville, TN EC
• New Orleans, LA EC
• Newark, New Jersey EC
• Newburgh / Kingston, NY EC
• Norfolk, VA EC
• N Delta Mississippi Rural EC
• NE Louisiana Delta Rural EC
• Northwoods NJ EC
• Oakland, CA EEC
• Ogden, UT EC
• Oklahoma City, OK EC
• Omaha, NE EC
• Ouachita Parish, LA EC
• Phoenix, AZ EC
• Pittsburgh, PA EC
• Portland, OR EC
• Providence, RI EC
• Pulaski Co. / Little Rock, AR EC
• Robeson Co., NC EC
• Rochester, NY EC
• San Antonio, TX EC
• San Diego, CA EC
• San Francisco, CA EC
• Scott/McCreary Area Rural EC
• Seattle, WA EC
• Southeast Oklahoma EC
• Springfield, IL EC
• Springfield, MA EC
• St. Louis, MO EC
• St. Paul, MN EC
• Tacoma, WA EC
• Tampa, Florida EC
• The HEW Alliance, NC EC
• The Town of Austin EC
• Tri-Co. Indian Nations EC
• Upper Kanawha Valley EC
• Waco, TX EC
• Wichita Co. EC
• Williamsburg-Lake City EC
• Wilmington, DE EC

18 September 2000
An Open Letter to Members of Congress
by Gene Gaines, Gaines Associates

New Markets: The Joint Committee on Taxation, in JCX-99-00, commenting on Senate Finance Chair William V. Roth Jr's (R-Del.) mark of a bill to aid low-income communities, scheduled for full committee markup September 21, describes the bill this way:

The "Community Renewal and New Markets Act of 2000" would strengthen incentives in empowerment zones and increase their number to 61. The bill would create a credit for equity investment in "community development entities," increase the state credit caps for low-income housing, accelerate an increase in state private activity bond volume limits, and expand mortgage revenue bonds...

Sounds good. To a few. Sounds devastating to many.

Why are the existing Enterprise Communities left out?

The existing Enterprise Communities (75 urban and 20 rural) have worked so very hard to organize, gain community support, and are making progress to increasing business in their distressed communities and attracting investment.

Now they are left out. Forgotten.

In the rush to adjournment... bipartisan wrangling... omnibus bills... subcommittee markups... a very important ongoing initiative in almost every state is being dealt a crippling blow.

With a New Markets bill budget target of $20 billion, (and $3.3 billion Amtrak bond tax relief squeezed in to that) is added -- BUT a tiny $200 million to keep the existing 95 Enterprise Communities on the path to success is forgotten.

Enterprise Communities are left out of this mark.

Ninety-five distressed communities forgotten, commitments broken.

They are not asking for grants. Not asking for tax-free bonds. Not asking for capital gains.

They are counting on what will attract local financing and venture capital investment in their start-up business, and fuel the growth of existing business -- a profit rollover, as described in the House bill.

Consider:

• A profit roller immediately attracts capital investment in growing Enterprise Communities by providing business profit tax relief.

• Tax relief on profits -- profits which must be earned in the distressed community and reinvested back in that community.

• No cost, not one dollar, until businesses are created, local people hired, goods/services produced and sold, a profit made, and that profit reinvested in another company in the same community.

• Federal spending at its best, narrowing the digital divide, enabling distressed communities to attract new-economy businesses.

• With tax benefits based on performance.

We care about distressed communities. We care about living in them, working in them and building businesses in them.

For more information or comments, contact James Schneider (619-696-9422), Gene Gaines (703-433-2081, or Jim Salmons and Timlynn Babitsky (Contact us).

Senators, please show you appreciate and support our Enterprise Communities.

-- Gene Gaines --
Sterling, Virginia