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Clint Eastwood’s Philanthropy Benefits The Environment And Provides Enormous Tax Breaks For Himself

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:50 PST, Jul 13, 2016

Clint Eastwood and his ex-wife, Maggie Eastwood, have recently donated a parcel of land to the Big Sur Trust. According to KSBW, Clint Eastwood and his ex-wife donated 79 acres of their Odello East property to the trust.

This was not the first donation made by Clint Eastwood and his ex-spouse, as they previously donated 49 acres of Odello East to the trust in 2007. The second and most recent donation took a little longer to organize than the first, but the generous gift will preserve the open space and restore the Carmel River Flood Plain.

The trust plans to remove the levee and add new flood channels. The project will also benefit wildlife habitats in the lower Carmel River and Carmel Regional Park, and it is hoped that restoring the floodplain will also protect the Mission Fields neighborhood and Rio Road area from flooding, of specific importance if the Central Coast ever sees a season with as much rainfall as it saw in 1995 and 1998. Clint Eastwood noted the intensity of the rainfall in the past, reiterating that the rainfall was so harsh that it took down an entire neighborhood as well as regions across the intersection, resulting in millions of dollars in expenses.

Clint Eastwood and his ex-wife have a long history of protecting land from the development of the Central Coast. The Eastwoods sold hundreds of acres to the county in the Malpaso Creek deal, preserving the area as open space decades ago. The couple then used the proceeds from the sale to buy the Odello East property in the 1990s, foiling plans to build a subdivision. Instead of moving forward with development plans, Clint and Maggie kept the land the way it was.

Despite their generous donations, Clint Eastwood is as much a shrewd businessperson as he is a nature preserver and philanthropist. Clint Eastwood and his ex-wife receive a tax break every time they make a charitable gift.

KSBW noted newspaper articles written and published in the 1990s that revealed that the two received a $6 million tax write-off for the initial 49-acre gift, and it is as yet unclear what the tax break will be for the 79-acre donation. For Clint Eastwood, the real motivation for giving the land seems to be preserving the Central Coast, and it seems fortunate that he will also receive a tax break for his generosity that will encourage him and other celebrities to continue to make philanthropic donations.

Another of Clint Eastwood’s ex-wives has been making news of her own recently. According to Us Weekly Magazine, Clint Eastwood’s ex-wife, Dina Eastwood, married her fiancé on July 2.

In a strange couple-swapping twist, Dina’s new husband, Scott Fisher, used to be married to Erica Tomlinson-Fisher. Clint Eastwood first dated Erica after the news of his 17-year-long marriage ending became public back in 2013. At the time, reports circulated that Dina started casually dating Fisher at the same time that Clint started dating Erica. But when Clint Eastwood’s relationship with Erica fizzled, Dina and Scott just seemed to get stronger as a couple, and now they are husband and wife.

Philanthropy and news of his former flames aside, Clint Eastwood has recently directed a film that is already generating Oscars buzz. According to the Guardian, Clint Eastwood’s Sully: Miracle on the Hudson has released a trailer, and everyone is excited about it.

The Eastwood-directed film stars Tom Hanks as Captain Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger and details the real life events which saw Sully pilot his crippled airliner in a controlled descent into the Hudson river in 2009, saving the lives of 155 passengers and crew.

Watch the new trailer here.

[Photo by AP Photo/Eric Risberg]

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