Sen. Moran Introduces Legislation to Invest in Rural Communities

May 17, 2023

Bill Would Bring Private Investment to Disadvantaged Rural Communities in the U.S.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) introduced the Rural Jobs Act, legislation to build on the success of the New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) by bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment to some of the most disadvantaged rural communities in America.

“The New Market Tax Credit has produced meaningful results for underserved areas, resulting in thousands of jobs created and generating new investments,” said Sen. Moran. “It’s time the credit is put to work for rural Americans. Rural Job Zones will cover the vast majority of rural states like Kansas, giving thousands of small towns the same opportunities as larger cities.”

The NMTC provides a modest tax incentive to private investors to invest in low-income communities. The programs’ projects have spurred more than $42 billion in private investment and generated more than one million jobs since 2000, but less than one in four NMTC jobs have been created in rural communities.

The Rural Jobs Act would designate $500 million in NMTC investments for “Rural Job Zones.” 

These zones are low-income communities that have a population smaller than 50,000 inhabitants and are not adjacent to an urban area. Under the new definition, Rural Job Zones would be established in 342 out of the 435 congressional districts across the country.

The bill would also require that at least 25 percent of this new investment activity be devoted to counties with persistently-high rates of poverty and migration. There are approximately 400 counties in the United States facing persistent poverty.