To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to encourage economic development through the creation of additional empowerment zones and enterprise communities and to encourage the cleanup of…

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Additional Empowerment Zones

Title II: New Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities

Title III: Expensing of Environmental Remediation Costs

Title I: Additional Empowerment Zones - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase from: (1) 9 to 11 the number of areas which may be designated as empowerment zones; (2) six to eight the number of such zones which may be in urban areas; and (3) 750,000 to 1,000,000 the aggregate population allowable in all urban area zones.

Title II: New Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities - Permits, before January 1, 1998, the designation, in the aggregate, of an additional: (1) 80 nominated areas as enterprise communities; and (2) 20 nominated areas as empowerment zones, subject to availability of eligible nominated areas.

Modifies eligibility criteria.

Prohibits: (1) applying the employment credit to the new empowerment zones; and (2) in certain developable sites, application of increased expensing provisions for certain depreciable business assets.

Modifies provisions concerning: (1) enterprise facility zone bonds; and (2) the enterprise zone business definition.

Title III: Expensing of Environmental Remediation Costs - Permits a taxpayer to treat certain hazardous substance remediation expenditures as expenses not chargeable to capital account and therefore deductible in the year in which paid or incurred.