“To ignore the potential contribution of private enterprise is to fight the war on poverty with a single platoon while great armies are left to stand aside.” Robert Kennedy
It is time for policy makers on both sides of the progressive-conservative divide to stop debating and start enacting policies to create jobs, especially for those suffering the most from the persisting great recession. One way to do that is to create green empowerment zones that would generate urban jobs, promote clean energy and enhance American competitiveness in the global shift to green technology. An empowerment zone generally is an economically distressed urban area that is eligible for government tax breaks as a way to spur business investment, small business growth and jobs. The concept has been embraced by Republicans like Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan as well as Democrats like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Last week, as part of the National Urban League’s new 12-point Urban Jobs Rebuild America Plan, we called for the creation of green empowerment zones in urban areas where at least 50% of the population has an unemployment rate that is higher than the state average. Manufacturers of solar panels and wind turbines that open plants in high unemployment areas will, for a period of three years, be eligible for a zero federal income tax rate and a zero capital gains tax rate under the condition that they hire at least half of their workforce from the local high unemployment area, and retain those workers for a minimum of three years.
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