Giving Thanks, NACs, IRS Delays 1099K Reporting Rule Again
Here's the latest dispatch.
Good morning,
For you newbies out there, welcome to Outsider on the Inside. I hope this dispatch from in and around the nation’s capital on underreported topics finds you well.
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Quick Thoughts of the Week
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I did and hope yours was enjoyable too. I’m grateful to have you here. Thanks for subscribing and reading!
It’s been another busy week at IWF. Read the latest at our Center for Energy and Conservation and subscribe to our newsletter Clearing the Air.
I’ve just concluded my fall 2023 speaking tour. I’ve got a couple events left next week and in December out West. If interested in having me speak on your campus or next event, contact me.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), yet again, delayed implementation of an American Rescue Plan provision lowering the 1099-k reporting threshold to $600. The agency conceded the $600 doesn’t work (duh!) and is raising the reporting threshold to $5,000. My IWF colleague Patrice Onwuka summed up the update beautifully, “While the IRS unilaterally delayed the rule for a second year, it plans a phased-in implementation. The agency knows that it is woefully unprepared for the avalanche of errors and tax filer adjustments that await. Congressional Democrats created this problem when they squeezed working-class households to fund the nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. It’s time that they come together with conservatives to fix this problem for good by repealing the rule and returning to the previous $20,000 and 200 transaction limit or at least a level far above $600.”
Congrats to my good friend, Cody, and his bride-to-be, Amanda, on their engagement!
Fellowship Opportunities for Winter 2024: For freedom-minded women, I encourage you to apply for IWF’s Visiting Fellowship. Applications are due December 1st, 2023 And if you’re a young professional aged 18 to 35 and want to jumpstart your media career/improve upon your skills, apply for the Young Voices Contributor Program due November 30th, 2023.
That’s a wrap for this week. Catch you in December next week!
The Next ESG Frontier: Natural Asset Companies
The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) movement is facing setbacks due to its diminishing popularity, poor investment fund performance, and pushback by Republican states. Desperate to keep ESG afloat, its proponents have devised a workaround through natural asset companies (NACs) to assign a value to nature and ecosystem services they produce.
The push for NACs is a joint venture between the New York Stock Exchange and Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG) to list so-called “sustainable enterprises” under the auspices of fighting climate change and stopping biodiversity loss.
Importantly, the goal is to control how land and natural resources are managed, but not through the traditional regulatory or lawmaking processes. NACs attempt to control resources through the investment world.
On October 4th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a rule to authorize the listing of NACs as self-regulatory organizations on the NYSE. The agency rushed the rule and abruptly closed comments after 21 days on October 25th—a clear violation of the Administrative Procedure Act that requires, at minimum, a 30-day comment period minimum on proposed rulemaking. Recently, the agency admitted fault and extended the rule comment period until January 2nd, 2024.
The SEC lacks the authority to create these enterprises as they can’t oversee activities, including management and access, on private and public lands, respectively. Its mission is to protect investors and maintain efficient markets—not manage and conserve private or public lands.
If the rule is approved, the SEC is expected to enroll federal lands—including National Park, U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFWS) lands—that fall under IEG’s hybrid land use case. These so-called “conservation areas” would encompass millions of acres of land, including working or recreational lands, that would be off-limits to multiple uses and recreational activities. This is currently playing out in Montana and Wyoming.
ICYMI
Articles/commentary/media appearances from the past week.
MEDIA MENTIONS
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ARTICLES/BLOGS
IWF/V: IWV Supports Ohio House Joint Resolution 5
RealClearMarkets: The Next ESG Frontier: Natural Asset Companies
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—Gabriella