Representative Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) has introduced legislation that would create up to 100 “maritime prosperity zones” across the country, spanning coastal areas as well as sites along major rivers and the Great Lakes. Businesses and projects located within these zones, including maritime supply chain companies, workforce training programs, and advanced manufacturing operations, would become eligible for targeted economic development tax incentives.
The bill builds on a broader push from the Trump administration to rebuild the domestic maritime industry. In a proposal previously put forward by the administration, and consistent with President Trump’s 2025 address to Congress promising “special tax incentives” for the sector, the maritime zone concept borrows heavily from the Qualified Opportunity Zones program enacted as part of the 2017 tax overhaul during the president’s first term.
Rep. Kelly’s proposal would not create a freestanding incentive structure. Instead, it would layer the new maritime designations onto the existing Opportunity Zone framework, aligning the business and property eligibility rules for maritime zones with those that already apply to Opportunity Zones, and matching the tax treatment available under each.
That alignment matters because Opportunity Zones themselves were recently reshaped. The 2025 tax-and-spending package expanded the availability of favorable short-term tax treatment for investments in rural Opportunity Zones and reduced the amount investors must spend improving a property relative to its basis, the “substantial improvement” threshold, to qualify for the incentive. Under Kelly’s bill, maritime prosperity zones would generally follow suit, picking up these same taxpayer-friendly adjustments.
Although the bill is still in its early legislative stages, we will continue to monitor this legislation as it moves through Congress and will provide updates on any developments. For more information about this update, contact Liskow attorneys Leon Rittenberg III, John Rouchell, and Kevin Naccari, and visit Liskow’s Tax Practice page.