Conservation easement cases are facing a severe backlog in the U.S. Tax Court, with nearly one thousand cases and billions of dollars in taxable income at stake. These cases concern property owners who have vowed to conserve their natural lands in exchange for a tax deduction based on the value of the development rights they forgo. However, due to a 2016 Obama-era IRS policy change, these deductions were revalued at zero and require court contestation to receive the deductions. 

These landowners are forced to navigate a court stacked against them to earn tax relief to which they're already entitled. The U.S. Tax Court—a slow-moving, costly system—is primarily staffed with former IRS employees, which gives the IRS the upper hand in all its cases and disincentivizes taxpayer pushback. 

The Alliance for IRS Accountability stands with these taxpayers and echoes their call for a return to traditional settlement practice. This is a prime opportunity for the Trump Administration to do right by taxpayers by relieving the backlog, generating significant revenue for the Treasury in the process.  

Read the full story here. 

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