Tax time, soon to arrive, is the time to remember Minnesota’s Chickadee Check-off. This is a line on your state tax form that gives you the opportunity to designate a portion of your tax refund for use by the DNR’s non-game wildlife department. Non-game efforts are important to song birds. If you have no refund you can make a contribution by adding that amount to the tax you owe. Tax returns filed for 2007 produced $1.1 million for the department, almost half the department’s annual budget. Average contribution was about $16. Check-off contributions made this coming tax season are likely to be even more important than in the past, given the budget deficit state government faces. This is a very simple way to help keep song birds on our landscape. If someone else prepares your taxes, be sure to tell them you want to use the Chickadee Check-off.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Backyard birding, Bird conservation, Birds and politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.