7887

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7887
• Author: Fischer, H., ‎(Wendy E. Hudson, ed.)‎.
• Title: Building Economic Incentives Into The Endangered Species Act, Third Edition.
• USFW Year: 1994.
• USFW - Doc Type: Washington, D.C.
• Copyright Material: NO

1. Property tax credits for habitat maintenance
2. Tax credits for habitat improvement
3. Partial tax credits for ESA compliance expenditures
4. Income tax deductions for revenue from lands managed to support
endangered species
5. Tax penalties for habitat conversion
6. Prohibition on the use of federal subsidies and tax benefits for
activities causing habitat loss or degradation
7. Creating a market for development rights on important biological
habitat
These ideas come with several caveats. The first is that the government has the
wherewithal to provide reliable information on what species and habitats are at
risk and where they are. The second, and equally fundamental, is that the govern-
ment must have the will to enforce the law. The third is that these ideas, even if
taken as a package, are not a substitute for a coherent federal policy to guide
development in a sustainable fashion. They could, however, begin the evolution
of such a policy.
ECONOMIC INCENTIVES
Tax Incentives and Disincentives. The following array of tax incentives and
disincentives is intended to influence the many levels of economic decision
making that result in the loss of biologically important habitat. Some are de-
signed to provide a modest economic motivation for preserving land in its natural
state; to cover the carrying costs for land threatened with damaging resource
extraction or conversion to commercial or residential use. Others are designed to
influence the deeper, structural investment, and wealth maximization dynamics
that drive a great deal of private-sector economic behavior. To be effective, an
economic incentive has to reach and appeal to the decision makers responsible for
the particular activity affecting sensitive habitat areas, whether they work on a
family farm or for a corporate timber operation with a million acres in holdings
(Anderson 1991).
The opportunity costs of not extracting marketable resources or converting land to
commercial or residential uses can be substantial. These tax incentives do not
seek to bridge the considerable distance between status quo, land-based revenues,
and unrealized opportunity costs. They are intended as motivating incentives and
economic signals, not as compensation for the effects of lawful and appropriate
government regulation.
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