Opinion: Charity, Not Profiteering

The Texas landscape is changing, and not always for the better. Increasing population and expanding development are destroying native habitat, reducing access to clean and plentiful water, and threatening agricultural production. Between 1997 and 2017, over 2.2 million acres of Texas natural land were lost.

In light of this trend, many landowners across Texas recognize the importance of protecting the lands under their care. They are reaching out to land trusts such as Texas Land Conservancy and using conservation easements to make it happen. As the stewardship director for TLC, I work with conservation-minded landowners to conserve their land. This labor of love protects critical habitats and watersheds while preserving our state's natural heritage for generations to come. To date, more than 1 million acres of privately owned Texas land have been protected through conservation easements.

But some bad actors have discovered a loophole with conservation easements that turns what should be charity into profiteering. Their actions threaten the ability of landowners with good intent wanting to conserve their land voluntarily, undercutting a system intended to protect our vanishing resources. Especially this year, when many of us have found solace in the outdoors, we cannot let one of our successful conservation tools be jeopardized in this way.

To understand how the profiteering occurs, it's helpful to know how conservation easements are intended to work. When a landowner puts a conservation easement on their property, they agree to permanently protect its natural resources by restricting certain development rights. Viewed strictly through a financial lens, their decision to give up these rights permanently devalues the property. All Texans benefit when land is conserved in this way, but this conservation does come at a cost to the landowners. Thus, to encourage conservation, the federal government implemented a federal tax incentive in the form of charitable tax deductions.

By comparison, the abuse we're seeing from a few bad actors uses funny math to turn this charitable incentive into a profit opportunity. That's not what Congress intended. Moreover, these bad actors are threatening our ability to conserve land while hurting taxpayers like you and me. Their abuse has led to nearly $36 billion in unwarranted tax deductions claimed between 2010 and 2018. You and I pay our taxes – and so should they. Luckily, Congress is working to ensure this abuse is halted.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance recently published a bipartisan investigative report detailing the way these fraudulent transactions work. That report concluded with a call for Congress, the IRS, and the Treasury Department to take further action to preserve the integrity of the conservation easement tax incentive.

Much like those senators, I and my colleagues at Texas Land Conservancy do not want charitably minded landowners to lose the incentive. We cannot allow conservation easements to continue to serve as fraudulent tax shelters. And we cannot turn a blind eye to billions in unpaid taxes that could be used – especially in this year of great need – to fund public health needs, help our school children, or repair crumbling infrastructure.

Fortunately, there is a timely and efficient way to stop these bad transactions: quick passage of the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation will halt these abusive transactions and safeguard taxpayers while still allowing good deals to move ahead and conservation-minded landowners to benefit. And perhaps most importantly, this legislation helps ensure that all Texans have sufficient and clean water, fresh and local agricultural products, and spaces for our native species to thrive.

On behalf of Texas Land Conservancy, I would like to thank Reps. Escobar (TX-16) and Gonzalez (TX-15) for co-sponsoring this important legislation. At the same time, we ask the rest of our Texas delegation in Washington to co-sponsor and vote for the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act. Enacting this legislation is the fastest and most efficient way to stop this abuse – keeping Texas a beautiful, natural state. We urge Congress to get the job done this year so that conservation-minded landowners can continue to protect the lands we all need and love.

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Ellen Gass is the stewardship director for the Texas Land Conservancy, where she works closely with landowners and other stakeholders to protect natural lands throughout Texas. In addition to her boots-on-the-ground work, she advocates for legislation and programs that will benefit conservation in Texas. She holds a master’s degree in geography from Texas A&M University.

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