It's not like the actions proposed by this article amount to any investment at in those depressed areas, it's just registering your company there but not actually doing anything which would benefit that neighborhood.

That's not correct. The article glosses over this, but if you read it carefully:

> At least 90% of [the QOF's] assets must be “qualified opportunity zone property” which can be any combination of (1) stock in a QOZB corporation, (2) partnership interest in a QOZB structured as an LLC or other pass-through partnership entity, and/or (3) qualified opportunity zone business property. However, this requirement doesn’t take effect immediately which means the QOF has time to find qualifying investments without rushing. Additionally, the 90% rule temporarily loosens if you deposit more cash into the QOF.

So you have to invest the assets either in (qualified) property in the depressed area, or in a company (QOZB) in the depressed area, which then has to meet these requirements among others:

> At least 50% of [the QOZB's] total gross income is derived from the conduct of a business in a qualified opportunity zone.

> At least 40% of [the QOZB's] intangible property (e.g. patents, trademarks, etc) must be actively used inside a qualified opportunity zone.

> At least 70% of [the QOZB's] tangible property owned or leased by the business must be qualified opportunity zone business property.

If this is some giant conspiracy by "the wealthy" to get some tax benefits, it's odd that they have put so much effort into making sure there is actual economic benefit for the depressed areas.