[Vision2020] Tax Codes / Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa
Gregory Dickison
gdickison@moscow.com
Wed, 23 Jul 2003 12:52:35 -0700
Dear Visionaries:
I was asked in a private e-mail the source of Verizon's property tax
exemption. I initially got the information from a title report, which stated
that no taxes were assessed, and that they were exempt. When I looked in the
Idaho Code in response to the question in order to find the specific
statutory basis for the exemption, it was not there. Further research, and a
conversation with Steve Fiscus, revealed that Verizon did in fact pay
property taxes, but they were assessed and paid at the State level. Thus,
the county never assessed the property or collected taxes locally.
In short, I was wrong when I said Verizon paid no property taxes. My
apologies to all, and Bill London in particular.
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: "Gregory Dickison" <gdickison@moscow.com>
To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 5:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Tax Codes
> 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."
> >
> > --------------------
> >
> > _____________________________________________________
> > List services made available by First Step Internet,
> > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> > http://www.fsr.net
> > mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> > ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
> >
>
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> http://www.fsr.net
> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
>