The new Tax and Jobs Act created a new economic development tool “qualified opportunity zones.” The program will provide states with designated low-income communities an opportunity to invite public and private investment to enhance the depressed business area. The program will provide opportunities for individual and corporate investors to defer current capital gains tax. Unfortunately, this business opportunity currently excludes golf course development from participating. This is the result of a long-held tax code that has become known as the “sin tax” which aligns golf courses with massage parlors, hot tub facilities, racetracks, gambling facilities and liquor stores. The NGCOA, along with the Golf Course Builders Association of America, is working with We Are Golf and Forbes-Tate to encourage members of Congress to remove this restriction from the new tax reform bill. Currently, there are state-designated programs in Oregon and Nebraska that have identified golf course development as a critical part of their redevelopment plan. Without changes in this policies, these states will lose the proposed business development that would come from a golf course and their associated amenities.