U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) on Jan. 16 sponsored a bipartisan bill that would amend the nation’s tax code to limit the amount of certain qualified conservation contributions.
“The conservation easement tax incentive is meant to help conserve land and protect family farms, not be used as a tax shelter,” Sen. Daines said. “This bill makes several important changes to the tax incentive that will help curb abuses and make sure that the program remains an important conservation tool.”
The Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act of 2019, S. 170, which Sen. Daines introduced with U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), would limit qualifying conservation contributions that are used for tax deductions to those transactions that don’t exceed 2.5 times (or 250 percent) of a syndicated partnership’s adjusted basis, according to a Jan. 17 statement released by Daines’ office.
The Internal Revenue Service recently informed the U.S. Senate Finance Committee that during 2010-2016, $20 billion was deducted through such syndicated partnerships, costing American taxpayers an estimated $8 billion, according to Sen. Daines’ statement.
S. 170 would exclude family-owned partnerships from the proposal, the statement said.
Thus far, the bill has garnered the support of several national organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, the Land Trust Alliance, Ducks Unlimited, and the Montana Association of Land Trusts, among others.
“The abusive practices of a growing number of easement tax-shelter syndicators poses risk to legitimate efforts of the many philanthropic-minded easement donors and mainstream land conservation organizations working to protect the nation’s significant conservation areas,” said Kameran Onley, director of U.S. government relations for The Nature Conservancy.
“We believe that, if passed, this bill will curtail those practices to maintain the public’s confidence in the most important federal tax-advantaged conservation tool,” Onley added.
Glenn Marx, executive director of the Montana Association of Land Trusts, agreed that S. 170 would be critical toward ending such syndicated transactions, and if enacted would help guarantee “that tax incentives for land conservation remain available for landowners to help conserve open lands, family farms and ranches, wildlife habitat and so much more.”
“The bill ensures that tax incentives for land conservation remain in place for genuine philanthropists while closing an apparent loophole that has allowed for abuse,” added Gildo Tori, director of public policy at Ducks Unlimited. “We urge Congress to move quickly to enact this bill into law.”
S. 170 has been referred for consideration to the Senate Finance Committee.