Nonprofits Call for Immediate Passage of Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 2, 2021) – The Land Trust Alliance, a national land conservation organization working to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America, joined other nonprofit organizations today in calling for immediate passage of the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act. This comes following a HuffPost report exploring why efforts to pass the legislation have stalled despite strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate.
“This much-needed, bipartisan legislation is essential to stopping tax cheats, who have already taken billions of taxpayer dollars from the federal treasury and have made clear that they have no intention of stopping. The IRS and Treasury Department have stepped up their efforts to halt this abuse; now it is time for Congress to do its part because nothing short of new law will stop these tax cheats. Congress must pass the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act this year,” said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of the Land Trust Alliance.
“The easement integrity bill is a very reasonable and targeted approach to curb abuses of the federal tax deduction for conservation easements, one of the most critical conservation tools available to charitably-minded private landowners. The Nature Conservancy strongly supports enactment of this bill and its inclusion in the reconciliation bill now being considered by the Senate,” said Kameran Onley, director at The Nature Conservancy, North America Policy & Government Relations.
“Private conservation of our treasured landscapes and habitats is an American value and should be encouraged. The Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act does just that while curbing past and continuing abuses of the tax code. As a leading nonprofit land conservation organization, The Conservation Fund strongly supports this bi-partisan, commonsense reform,” said Larry Selzer, president and CEO of The Conservation Fund.
“Voluntary conservation easements are an important tool for western farmers and ranchers especially as they face increasing uncertainty brought on by prolonged drought and volatile market conditions. Conservation easements are also an important tool for creating more resilient rural communities and stimulating the economies of these communities. Further, conservation easements maintain important wildlife habitat and other important natural resources. The Charitable Conservation Easement Integrity Act is important to maintaining public confidence in conservation easements and ensuring this tool remains available for agricultural producers and others,” said Erik Glenn, president of the Partnership of Rangeland Trusts, which is based in Colorado.
About the Land Trust Alliance
Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents nearly 1,000 member land trusts supported by more than 200,000 volunteers and 4.6 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and operates several regional offices. More information about the Alliance is available at www.landtrustalliance.org.