A Good Tax
A Good Tax

Author: Joan Youngman

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9781558443426

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In A Good Tax, tax expert Joan Youngman skillfully considers how to improve the operation of the property tax and supply the information that is often missing in public debate. She analyzes the legal, administrative, and political challenges to the property tax in the United States and offers recommendations for its improvement. The book is accessibly written for policy analysts and public officials who are dealing with specific property tax issues and for those concerned with property tax issues in general.

A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements
A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements

Author: C. Timothy Lindstrom

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2012-09-26

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1610910540

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Voluntary land conservation, resulting from increasingly alluring tax benefits, has significantly changed the face of land use in the United States and promises to have an even more significant influence in the future. There are more than 1,500 land trusts in the U.S. today, involving millions of acres of land that have been permanently protected by conservation easements. Most of these land trusts depend heavily upon the significant income or estate tax benefits offered by the federal tax code as an incentive for voluntary land conservation. However, only a very small percentage of land trust personnel, landowners or their advisors, or even government officials, fully understand the complexity of the requirements for these tax benefits. This is a comprehensive book on the tax benefits of the charitable contribution, or bargain sale, of a conservation easement. It provides a detailed explanation of the complex and extensive requirements of the federal tax code and related concepts, including the rules governing the operation of tax-exempt organizations such as land trusts. Clearly written, systematic in its coverage, it is intended to be of value for anyone who deals with land trust issues, including land trust staff and trustees, landowners, lawyers, accountants, government officials, and interested lay people. Structured for easy reference, A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements is designed to be used as a resource tool. Related topics are cross-referenced throughout. All principles in the book are illustrated with one or more useful examples. The tax benefits of contributing a conservation easement are unquestionably the heart of voluntary land conservation today. Knowledge of the tax law relating to land trusts and conservation easements is vital to properly establishing and managing land trusts and to insuring the tax deductibility of conservation easements. The future of voluntary land conservation is dependent on a clear understanding of tax policy. Complete, meticulous, and up to date, A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements is an essential handbook.

Reinventing Conservation Easements
Reinventing Conservation Easements

Author: Jeff Pidot

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 46

ISBN-13:

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No recent happening in land conservation rivals the rapid expansion of conservation easements and the related growth in the number of land trusts over the past 15 years. Among the forces driving this phenomenon are tax and other public subsidies and the view that the conservation easement is a win-win strategy in land protection. The thesis of this policy focus report is that conservation easements are a valuable land protection tool, complementing regulation, land acquisition, and tax policies, but that reforms are needed in tax and other laws and conventions governing easements, lest we risk losing the public benefits for which the easements were established.

Land Use Law in Florida
Land Use Law in Florida

Author: W. Thomas Hawkins

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2021-06-28

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1000394050

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Land Use Law in Florida presents an in-depth analysis of land use law common to many states across the United States, using Florida cases and statutes as examples. Florida case law is an important course of study for planners, as the state has its own legal framework that governs how people may use land, with regulation that has evolved to include state-directed urban and regional planning. The book addresses issues in a case format, including planning, land development regulation, property rights, real estate development and land use, transportation, and environmental regulation. Each chapter summarizes the rules that a reader should draw from the cases, making it useful as a reference for practicing professionals and as a teaching tool for planning students who do not have experience in reading law. This text is invaluable for attorneys; professional planners; environmental, property rights, and neighborhood activists; and local government employees who need to understand the rules that govern how property owners may use land in Florida and around the country.

Holding Our Ground
Holding Our Ground

Author: Deborah Bowers

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 1997-03-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781559634823

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Farmers, who own or rent most of the private land in America, hold the key not only to the nation's food supply, but also to managing community growth, maintaining an attractive landscape, and protecting water and wildlife resources. While the issue of protecting farmland and open space is not new, the intensity of the challenge has increased. Farmers are harder pressed to make a living, and rural and suburban communities are struggling to accommodate increasing populations and the development that comes with them. Holding Our Ground can help landowners and communities devise and implement effective strategies for protecting farmland. The book: discusses the reasons for protecting farmland and how to make those reasons widely known and understood describes the business of farming, federal government farm programs, and the role of land in farmers's decisions analyzes federal, state, and local farmland protection efforts and techniques explores a variety of land protection options including purchase of development rights; transfer of development rights; private land trusts; and financial, tax, and estate planning reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the farmland protection tools available The authors describe the many challenges involved in protecting farmland and explain how to create a package of techniques that can meet those challenges. In addition, they offer appendixes with model zoning ordinances, nuisance disclaimers, conservation easements, and other documents that individuals and communities need to carry out the programs discussed. Holding Our Ground provides citizens, elected officials, planners, and landowners with a solid basis for understanding the issues behind farmland protection, and will be an invaluable resource in developing techniques and programs for achieving long-term protection goals.