hHere & There Column 12-4-07

We Need To Get Tougher On Tax-Exempt Land

New York's ground rules for establishing tax-exempt status for properties owned by nonprofits got some strong support recently from the 3rd Judicial Department of the State Appellate Division.
An assessor in the nearby Town of Shawangunk Ulster County, rejected the World Buddhist Chan Jing Center's application for a religious tax exemption on three parcels.
The land while is was on the tax rolls was worth a reported $1 million and if taken off the tax rolls would have taken a good sum of tax monies from the town, the Pine Bush School District and Ulster County.
The State Appellate Division ruling in favor of this township held that just because an organization is a nonprofit and a religious one, does not mean it is exempt from taxation.
Someone has finally got it right and this court by showing that just because a nonprofit organization owns land, it does not automatically qualify for a tax exemption.
For so many years nonprofit organizations just seemed to automatically quality for these tax exemptions while local property owners were then forced to pick up the tab.
We don't know the total value of tax exempt lands in Sullivan County but we hope with this court ruling town and village assessors start sharpening their pencils and show some guts by using this same denial process that the Town of Shawangunk assessor used.
We don't see much hope from the state legislature for proposed legislation that could, if passed, change New York's ground rules for establishing tax-exempt status for properties owned by nonprofits.
Local Senator John Bonacic and Ticonderoga Senator Elizabeth Little have sponsored legislation and nonprofits and religious groups have lined up against six bills they say would devastate them financially in the bills become law.
Bonacic has clearly stated that the legislation is not aimed at the legitimate work of nonprofit providers.
Bonacic said, "what we are trying to do is stamp out the abuses in the system and to reform the way taxes are paid."
The growth in tax-exempt property is a real concern for all municipal units including school districts and property owned by nonprofits sometimes definitely undermines the tax base.
As the middle class has moved to the suburbs, the tax base has decayed and you guessed it folks........Mr. and Ms. average taxpayer bites the bullet and pays the bill.
Well, welcome to the real world and this is basically what the 3ed Judicial Department of the state Appellate Division has done with their decision.