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Partnership for Conservation (P4C): Lawmakers Should Reject Retroactive Tax Hike Targeting Market-Based Conservation Solutions

Poison Pill Legislation Would Impose Punitive Retroactivity and Undermine Conservation of Critical Lands and Habitats

For Immediate Release

Contact: Jon Conradi
860-235-3884
[email protected]

Washington, D.C. – Partnership for Conservation (P4C) chairman and president Robert Ramsay issued a statement Tuesday on the potential introduction of the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act as a proposed amendment to the bipartisan infrastructure package being debated in the U.S. Senate.

“A punitive retroactive tax hike on thousands of Americans that would put a chilling effect on the conservation of critical habitats and working lands does not belong in bipartisan infrastructure legislation,” said P4C President Robert Ramsay. “Lawmakers must reject any amendment that includes this poison pill legislation that would force taxpayers to amend their income tax returns going back five years, retroactively impose egregious interest and penalties for up to eleven years and deal lasting damage to market-based solutions critical to safeguarding our environment for the next generation.”

“Punitive retroactive changes to even one tax incentive would signal that all tax incentives could be changed after the fact, discouraging taxpayers from making a broad range of financial decisions based on current law,” Ramsay added. “This divisive proposal has nothing to do with upgrading the nation’s infrastructure and should be rejected so policymakers and stakeholders can come to the table to find an equitable path forward to uphold the integrity of all conservation easements.”

Read P4C’s statement on the June reintroduction of the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act HERE.

Read more on the environmental value of partnership conservation HERE.

Learn more about P4C’s legislative proposals to strengthen the integrity of market-based conservation solutions HERE.

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