IRS Does Not Spend Enough On Conferences
There is an ideology that holds that we would be better off with a much smaller federal government which would not need nearly as much tax revenue. I have a lot of respect for that ideology and I think it deserves a fair hearing. I think, though, that it is underhanded to devote energy to defeating taxation by gutting enforcement and demoralizing the enforcers. And that is what I see going on.
Conservation Easement No Deduction For Hypothetical Vineyard
Mr. Mountanos had three experts testify about the valuation. The IRS did not even bother to have their own expert. They just cross-examined the taxpayer experts. The IRS has a presumption working in its favor that the highest and best use is the current use. If the highest and best use is the current use, a conservation easement is worthless. Mr. Mountanos had experts who indicated that 287 or the ranch’s 882 acres could be converted into a vineyard. The balance could be subdivided into 22 residential parcels – hypothetically speaking.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? The ranch is totally surrounded by federal land. There is an access easement, but it is restricted to single-family use and there is no indication that the Bureau of Land Management would alter the easement. Then there was the matter of water rights. Apparently it takes water to grow grapes. Who knew? Then there was the small matter of whether there would be any demand for a vineyard if the logistical obstacles were overcome.
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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.