Committee Supports Accountability in Colorado’s Conservation Easement Tax Credit

Vow to “make a successful program stronger”

DENVER— Vowing to “make a successful program stronger,” House Majority Leader Alice Madden ushered her bill through the House Finance Committee today.  The proposal will add an extra layer of accountability for state conservation easement tax credits.

The measure, House Bill 1353, builds upon changes enacted last year which increased the standards, transparency and accountability for the tax credits.  An important amendment, unanimously adopted, gives the Department of Revenue the authority to review tax credits being audited by the IRS.  This will allow the state to recover monies obtained through inflated appraisals and to help legitimate donors who have been caught up in the IRS’s overly broad net.

Conservation easements are sold or donated by private landowners to nonprofits or government agencies to guarantee that a parcel of land will never be developed.  Property owners may continue using their land as it has been used but give up the rights to sell the land to developers in the future or to develop it themselves.

“Colorado has benefited from conservation easements in every corner of the state that protect farms, ranchland, wildlife habitat, scenic and historic landscapes and other unique natural lands.  These are places that could have been lost forever to development without the state tax credits,” said Rep. Madden.  “Our goal is to make a successful program stronger.”

“Unfortunately, a few bad actors have misused this program, Rep. Madden added.  “This will be the last nail in the coffin of those who would defraud taxpayers through inflated appraisals and slight of hand, chopping up lands in a way that would impress a chef at Benihana.”

-- Posted by staff