Comments on: Should nonprofits pay taxes?

By: Connie

Connie — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:23:59 +0000

This has been an active discussion in several spots. To see what others have to say, also go to these groups on LinkedIn:

Non Profit Network – MojaLink
http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=20929756&gid=148346&commentID=17279134&goback=.gmp_148346.amf_148346_14522876&trk=NUS_DISC_Q-subject#commentID_17279134

Non-Profit Marketing
http://www.linkedin.com/newsArticle?viewDiscussion=&articleID=132135333&gid=161484

Magnifying Public Relations Ideas for Non-Profits & Associations
http://www.linkedin.com/newsArticle?viewDiscussion=&articleID=132135333&gid=2465644

By: Connie

Connie — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:44:29 +0000

Anne,
Good point! For many nonprofit organizations, salaries for front-line staff, though small, often are a large proportion of the agency’s budget. Many small nonprofits already don’t have enough staff to do the administrative tasks they must do to stay healthy, such as raise funds. They’re in a starvation cycle. Thank you for your insight.
Connie

By: Anne S

Anne S — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:30:12 +0000

Smaller non-profits and those that get public funding will pay those fees by cutting staff (already cut to the bone in many cases) or by not giving raises to front line staff – who already make less than people in private industry and often pay more of their health insurance premiums, too. I lost $240/month in pay over the last two years, due to no pay raise and increased health ins. costs. Why not just tax me out of a job so that I can’t pay MY property tax. There has to be a better way.

By: Connie

Connie — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:29:08 +0000

Jos,
Thanks for that interesting information. It’s great that everyone kept the community’s best interests in mind when they reached that agreement. Sounds like a great place to live!

The circumstances can be quite different from place to place. Albany, NY, is our state capital and the biggest “industry” there is government. It also has a big state university campus. Put that all together, and its situation resembles yours, where a half the real estate is tax exempt. That puts the city government in a real bind when it comes to supplying police and other services.

If people can keep the big picture in mind, as your town did, I think people can come up with a fair way to share costs. Of course, that’s not easy to do, and that’s why it’s so rare.

Thanks for telling us about a town that took the high road!

Connie

By: Jos Myers

Jos Myers — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:07:07 +0000

In our town, we have a payment in lieu of taxes agreement with a large nonprofit organization which equates to 25% of their property tax. Our town is extremely small and when the business changed from a profit business to non-profit, the town lost approximately half of its property tax revenue. The organization has been very gracious in extending the offer and it has made the pinch much easier to take. If they did not extend this offer, our small town would absolutely be forced to give the difference to the residents.
I think it really depends on the situation. In ours, the deal is a very congenial decision that was nearly necessary to the survival of the town. However, when cities are spending out of control and take from places that need the money to provide essential services, it becomes nearly like a new tax on the people since they lose those services.