WaPo: Sandoval, Heller & “gamesmanship” bring federal aid to already booming county

Storey County, home of Tesla’s battery factory, won a lucrative federal designation as an “Opportunity Zone” – at the expense of other Nevada towns – as a result of lobbying by Gov. Brian Sandoval, Sen. Dean Heller, and Nevada brothel owner Lance Gilman, the Washington Post reports.

The story reports that businessmen in Dayton are furious, because that community’s application for Opportunity Zone status was withdrawn by Sandoval in favor of Storey County’s.

Opportunity Zone status is designed to help distressed low-income communities attract new business and economic growth by providing generous federal tax breaks to those who invest in the zones. Gilman developed the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center in Storey County, home of Tesla’s battery factory, a Switch data center and several other companies.

According to the Post, “It shows how the new tax law, meant to simplify the tax code when it passed in December, is creating opportunities for gamesmanship — in this case by public officials and business executives seeking to exploit the Trump administration’s discretion in interpreting the law.”