Posted on 06/08/2005 9:52:30 PM PDT by Crackingham
The Internal Revenue Service has established a team dedicated to tracking down abusive tax breaks claimed through conservation easements. The team is searching for patterns of abuse and for individuals who promote tax schemes related to land conservation, according to Steven T. Miller, the IRS commissioner for tax-exempt entities.
"We are going to shine a searchlight in their direction, and will use all civil and criminal tools at our disposal to combat abuses," Miller said in written testimony presented yesterday at a Senate Finance Committee hearing.
The hearing focused on a range of concerns. Many involved the Nature Conservancy, the world's largest environmental group and the subject of a two-year investigation by the committee's staff. Others centered on individuals and smaller charities that allegedly manipulate conservation laws to generate large tax deductions.
Much of the testimony related to conservation easements -- development restrictions added to land to help preserve habitat or open space. South Carolina Revenue Director Burnet R. Maybank III testified that he had identified more than $290 million in deductions claimed by taxpayers in his state over three years. Seven of the most lucrative tax deductions went to the owners of golf courses, who placed the easements on their fairways and claimed deductions totaling $125 million.
"The numbers we have seen are simply astonishing," Maybank said.
The IRS is requiring additional reporting on returns to identify which nonprofits hold conservation easements. Other forms filed by conservation groups will require them to identify individual easement donors and, in the case of large easements, send the IRS an appraisal that discloses the tract's value.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
That's good news. ELF will have to start paying taxes with their terrorism money.
When are they going to go after employers hiring illegals?
To report every illegal you would need to be on the phon eight hours a day.
I love this. Make a stupid law and some capitalist somewhere will find a way to profit from it. I bet it really ticks off the environazis too.
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