[Vision2020] Tax Codes

[Gregory Dickison]

Dear Visionaries:

Bill says that I "implied" that he was wrong about his understanding of the
tax situation. I did not imply it, I said it out loud. Bill then says that
it "seems" that I was denying that NSA took advantage of a property tax
exemption. I was doing no such thing. False assumptions are what started
this thread in the first place. How it is that the writer's clear statements
turn into implications and the reader's or observer's unfounded assumptions
turn into hard facts is beyond me.

But since Bill actually did the investigation I invited him to do, I will
expand on what was wrong with his letter to the editor.

Bill said, "When educational and religious organizations purchase property
and remove that property from the tax rolls, the other taxpayers have to pay
more to maintain governmental services." NSA did not remove any property
from the tax roles. Before NSA bought the building, it was owned by
Verizon/GTE, which paid no property taxes. NSA has simply substituted one
form of tax exemption for another, keeping the status quo. If anything, NSA
has increased the amount of property taxes being paid, lessening the burden
on the other taxpayers. I would think this would be happy news.

Bill said, "In exchange, those educational and religious organizations are
assumed to be doing good works that benefit the community." He then says in
his recent post, "Now, I am starting to wonder what else we are getting for
this generous property tax exemption...." Tax exemptions of whatever kind
are granted to certain organizations because their missions are inherently
beneficial to the community. The organizations are not required to submit an
additional check list of "good works" that they will do to justify  the
exemption. But even if I were to grant Bill's point, NSA meets the test in
at least two ways: providing restrooms to the Farmers' Market, and providing
Diversity in Educational Choice.

Now, I do agree that NSA (and Christ Church, and anyone else with a
Christian mission) has an obligation to do good works and to benefit Moscow.
But that is because they are part of the body of Christ, and not because of
some crass financial quid pro quo with the civil government.

Cheers,

Gregory C. Dickison
Lawyer & Counselor at Law
Post Office Box 8846
312 South Main Street
Moscow, Idaho 83843
(208) 882-4009

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill London" <london@moscow.com>
To: "Douglas" <dougwils@moscow.com>
Cc: <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 5:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Tax Codes


> 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
>
> -----------------------
>
> > 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
> >
>
> ----------------
> 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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