How the Easement Incentive Works

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. This was a great victory for conservation!

In 2006 and 2007 the tax incentive helped America’s land trusts increase the pace of land conservation by about a million acres a year—an area the size of Rhode Island! The law:

Raises the maximum deduction a donor can take for donating a conservation easement from 30% of their adjusted gross income (AGI) in any year to 50%;
Allows qualified farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their AGI; and
Increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 years to 16 years.

These changes enable family farmers, ranchers, and other moderate-income landowners to get a significant tax benefit for donating a conservation easement on their land. Under prior law, an agricultural landowner earning $50,000 a year who donated a conservation easement worth $1 million could take a total of no more than $90,000 in tax deductions! Under the new law, that landowner can take as much as $800,000 in tax deductions – still less than the full value of their donation, but a significant increase.

Conservation Incentive and Solid Tax Reform

The 2006 law also set higher standards for appraisers and appraisals of all donated property, and set higher penalties for abusive appraisals. Conservationists supported this to ensure the integrity of the charitable donation process. The law also tightened restrictions on donations of easements to protect historic buildings. These reforms did not expire at the end of last year.

Current Status and Future Prospects

We recently succeeded in renewing this incentive through December 31, 2009 and retroactively to the beginning of 2008, but we still need your help to make it permanent!

Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Dave Camp (R-MI) introduced legislation (H.R. 1576) to make the easement incentive permanent. That bill has a bipartisan list of 174 cosponsors from all parts of the country.

Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) have introduced similar legislation in the Senate (S. 469), with 27 cosponsors.

The President’s fiscal year 2009 budget endorses an identical provision, which it scores as costing $245 million over ten years. The Joint Committee on Taxation has scored these bills as costing $761 million over ten years.

Important links:

THANK YOU to the more than 50 national agricultural, conservation, and sportsmen’s organizations support making this important conservation tool permanent:

American Bird Conservancy
American Farm Bureau Foundation
American Farmland Trust
American Fisheries Society
American Sportfishing Association
Archery Trade Association
ArrowSport
Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
B.A.S.S./ESPN Outdoors
Bear Trust International
Berkley Conservation Institute
Boone and Crockett Club
Bowhunting Preservation Alliance
Campfire Club of America
Civil War Preservation Trust
Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation
The Conservation Fund
Conservation Force
Dallas Safari Club
Delta Waterfowl Foundation
Ducks Unlimited
Environmental Defense Fund
Houston Safari Club
Izaak Walton League of America
Land Trust Alliance
Mule Deer Foundation
National Audubon Society
National Cattleman's Beef Association
National Shooting Sports Foundation
National Wild Turkey Federation
The Nature Conservancy
National Trust for Historic Preservation
North American Grouse Partnership
Foundation for North American Wild Sheep
Partnership of Rangeland Trusts
Pheasants Forever
Piedmont Environmental Council
Quail Unlimited
Quality Deer Management Association
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Safari Club International
Scenic America
Texas Wildlife Association
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
Trout Unlimited
Trust for Public Land
The Vital Ground Foundation
Whitetails Unlimited
Wildlife Land Trust
Wildlife Management Institute
The Wildlife Society

How the Easement Incentive Works

Conservation Incentive and Solid Tax Reform

Current Status and Future Prospects

Important links:

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