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Senate Finance Committee Holds Hearing on Land Donations
The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing June 8 on “The Tax Code and Land Conservation: Report on Investigations and Proposals for Reform.” Dean Zerbe and Jonathan Selib, Republican and Democratic Committee tax counsels, testified about the Committee’s report on The Nature Conservancy.
Other witnesses included:
- Earl E. Devaney, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Interior;
- Steven J. McCormick, President and CEO, Nature Conservancy;
- Rand Wentworth, President, Land Trust Alliance;
- Timothy Lindstrom, Director of Protection & Staff Attorney, Jackson Hole Land Trust, Jackson, WY;
- Burnet R. Maybank, III, Director, South Carolina Department of Revenue; and
- Steven T. Miller, Commissioner, Tax Exempt and Government Entities Operating Division, Internal Revenue Service.
Among the recommendations offered by the witnesses were: improved reporting to the IRS, required standards for appraising conservation easements, accreditation or continuing education for appraisers, and providing education and best practices guidance to both donors and donees.
In closing the hearing, Chairman Grassley said he is hopeful that in the next few weeks he and Senator Baucus will be able to propose reforms in the area of conservation easements. They will look at issues including: “valuation, especially improving appraisals; adequate monitoring and enforcement of easements; ensuring conservation purposes of easements; proper reporting and limitations on modifications of easements; accreditation of land trusts; and greater transparency and reporting by land trusts.”
Changes in the rules for donation of land, conservation easements, and historic façade easements are among the provisions the Finance Committee is considering as part of a charitable reform bill. The Committee is likely to delay introducing charity reform legislation, however, until the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector presents its second report in June.
Summary of the hearing
Summary of Finance Committee Report Recommendations
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