Property owners miffed over conservation easement tax program

Some Colorado property owners and hundreds of investors who took advantage of a program to preserve millions of acres of land in return for state income-tax credits could be forced to repay as much as $220 million in back taxes because the state ruled the land isn’t worth what the landowners claimed. Rocky Ford hay farmer Timothy Crow said he could be forced into bankruptcy. “This was supposed to be a good thing for everyone,” Crow said of the state’s conservation easement program, where land-rich but cash-poor ranchers and farmers like him can preserve their property forever in return for needed income. Crow and thousands of others preserved millions of acres of land in return for state income-tax credits they could either sell for cash or use to pay their own income tax bill. At issue are nearly 500 conservation easements like Crow’s, the bulk of them donated between 2003 and 2007, that were created under a state law that for years had no oversight. Many landowners went into the program honestly, but they relied on appraisers who used flawed methods of calculating land values. The problems have also hurt investors who bought the credits. “This just stinks all the way around,” said Fort Collins businessman Michael McCurdie, who is facing a $100,000 bill for back taxes and penalties because he bought $65,000 in easement credits in 2003. State officials say they’re just collecting taxes due, the Denver Post reported Sunday. “They were private deals negotiated by private parties, and as with any investment there is risk,” Colorado Department of Revenue spokeswoman Daria Serna said in an email to The Denver Post...more

If you want to tie your property up forever, go ahead...just don't expect others to subsidize your decision.