The "Somebody Else's Money" Argument

Here's another nice rebuttal from Professor McLaughlin's paper.
"“Since government agencies and land trusts are in effect, spending someone else’s money to acquire easements donated under 170(h), they might be expected to exercise less care in the selection of donated easements than in the selection of easements they purchase directly. That concern should not be overstated, however, because government agencies and land trusts accepting easement donations have a significant financial incentive to be selective and accept only those easements that best advance their particular land protection goals. Unlike the acceptance of a cash donation, the acceptance of an easement donation confers no economic benefit upon a government agency or land trust. Instead, an easement represents a liability to the accepting agency or land trust because it entails ongoing and sometines costly monitoring and enforcement responsibilities, which typically must be undertaken on a very limited budget.” (page 62, b)