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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thorough research and excellent analysis, November 20, 2002
By A Customer
The subject of property tax exemptions for charities may not on first impression seem like the most burning issue of the day. However, the topic involves several elements that provoke the passion if not the ire of any number of people: taxes, property rights, politics, discrimination, and religion. A list of subjects not to raise at cocktail parties would not contain too many additional entries. Legal theories notwithstanding, property taxes begin with the simple practicality that real property is impossible to hide and easy to confiscate. Regardless of the owner's asset liquidity, property taxes invoke the Willie Sutton theory of taxation: that's where the money is. Legal theories notwithstanding, property tax exemptions have at their origin the fact that activities that we consider as charitable, schools, hospitals, welfare, etc., were the almost exclusive province of the medieval church. The church could not be taxed because the crown would risk excommunication or interdiction. In the Middle Ages, in contrast to today, going to hell was something to be feared rather than encouraged. We learn from this that property taxes are inevitable and exemptions are eternal if not immutable. Old habits are difficult to break. Evelyn Brody, the editor of this book, is professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology and an associate scholar with the Urban Land Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. She and her contributors do a uniformly good job of placing the issues in context. The historical perspectives were valuable, particularly a chronology showing how history and taxes interrelate. Other chapters include discussions of legal theories of taxation and exemptions, alternative methods, and the conflict between tax-exempt organizations and municipalities. If the book has a deficiency it is that the scope constrains itself to, as the subtitle indicates, mapping the battlefield rather than preparing for battle. I should have liked to see more material on the relationship between property taxes and property use. All in all, the book is definitely a successful example of thorough research and excellent analysis of that research. I await the sequel.
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by Lawrence J. Friedman
by Andrew Carnegie (Sp
