Wyoming Congressman Cynthia Lummis addressed members of Congress and staff at a policy briefing hosted by the Land Trust Alliance on Capitol Hill last week. As a past board member of the Stock Growers Land Trust, Representative Lummis understands and supports private land conservation and has joined a bipartisan group of nearly 200 Members of Congress who have co-sponsored bills to make the enhanced conservation easement tax incentives permanent. The enhanced incentive helps landowners of modest means choose conservation by:
- Raising 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%;
Allowing qualified farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their AGI; and
Increasing the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 to 16 years.
Without the enhanced easement incentive, 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 enhanced incentive, 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. This provides a significant tool for working families in estate planning and passing family lands on to the next generation of Wyoming producers