[Vision2020] Tax Codes

[Bill London]

Both Doug Wilson and Greg Dickison responded to my V2020 posting about the
property tax exemption provided by this community to the buildings owned by
Christ Church and New St. Andrews College.

Both Wilson and Dickison (relevant parts of their posts are reprinted below)
clearly implied that I was wrong.  Their posts are written in a
seemingly-clever way to make their meaning come through without stating
anything directly, but it sure seems to me they were denying that their
organizations took advantage of a property tax exemption in Moscow.

So I called the Latah County Assessor's Office (882-8580) and asked.
The answer: both Christ Church and New St. Andrews College are taking
significant property tax exemptions.  Here is what I was told by the
assessor's office personnel:

Christ Church owns the Anselm House at 5th and Washington in Moscow (actually
504 South Washington).  That building is 81% tax exempt.  The other 19% of the
building (the part that is taxed) is rented by the church as office space.

New St. Andrews College owns the former GTE building at Friendship Square (109
West 4th Street).  That building is 89.5% exempt.  (The taxed part is the
bakery.)

To provide an idea of the amount of money they save on property taxes, the tax
bill for the Anselm House had been $423,000, and now, with the exemption in
force, the tax bill is $80,000.

The point I was trying to make in my original post was that non-profit
religious and educational organizations are entitled to take such tax
exemptions.  But the reason they get those exemptions is that they are
presumed to be benefitting the community through their good works.

I did thank New St. Andrews College for supplying a public bathroom for use
during the Farmers Market.  Now, I am starting to wonder what else we are
getting for this generous property tax exemption, and also wonder why these
representatives of the church and college were not more forthcoming and
direct.
BL

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> The motto ought not to be "ready, fire, aim!" My suggestion is that we ask
> Vera or Bill to run this down for us. We don't want to lend credence to a
> method that circulates erroneous information first, and then requires the
> misrepresented entities to put it all right. Let's ask those who want to
> present their concerns to the public to get the facts straight first.
>
> Cordially,
>
> Douglas
>

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Gregory Dickison wrote, "By the way, Bill: you are wrong about the tax
situation. But I will let you look that up."

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