The Enhanced Easement Incentive
The Incentive Has Expired -- Help Bring it Back!
The enhanced easement incentive expired on December 31, 2011. Bills to make it permanent, H.R. 1964 and S. 339, now have an impressive 299 co-sponsors in the House and we're launching a renewed push to build support in the Senate. Please help us bring the incentive back early this year.
Easement donations are still tax deductible, but subject to lower caps. For updated information see our Frequently Asked Questions and Conservation Donation Rules pages.
A Critical Conservation Tool with Broad, Bipartisan Support
The enhanced tax deduction for conservation easement donations has helped America’s land trusts work with farmers, ranchers and other modest-income landowners to increase the pace of conservation by a third to over a million acres a year! But the incentive expired at the end of 2011, so fewer landowners will receive tax benefits from the generous donation of development rights on their land.
Fortunately, bills to make the incentive permanent, S. 339 and H.R. 1964, are being championed by the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus (D-MT) and an impressive 299 co-sponsors in the House, including the Chairman, the Ranking Democrat and a majority of both parties on the Ways & Means Committee. In fact, H.R. 1964 currently has more co-sponsors than any other tax bill!
Support Bills to Make the Incentive Permanent
You can take action today by calling the capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and asking your Members of Congress to co-sponsor:
- Representatives can co-sponsor the Conservation Easement Incentive Act, H.R. 1964, by contacting Lori Prater (5-4315) in the office of Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-PA) or Carla McGarvey (5-3311) in the office of Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA).
- Senators can co-sponsor the Rural Heritage Conservation Act, S. 339, introduced by Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) by calling Tiffany Smith (4-4515) at the Senate Finance Committee.
There are still 15 House and 40 Senate co-sponsors from previous years who we need to sign-on to this year's bills! Thank them for their past support and it should be an easy ask.
- How You Can Help: Fact Sheets, Templates and Advice
- List of co-sponsors in the 112th Congress
- Letters of Support for the Conservation Tax Incentive
- Conservation Tax Incentive Media Coverage and Success Stories
- View a detailed co-sponsor map
Thanks to the hard work of Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), along with land trusts and coalition partners around the country, on August 3, 2006 the Congress approved a tremendous expansion of the federal tax incentive for conservation easement donations
- Conservation Incentive and Solid Tax Reform
- Current Status and Future Prospects
- A Diverse National Coalition
For more information about the easement incentive, please contact Sean Robertson at 202-800-2229, or e-mail policy@lta.org.
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