The high court, by the slimmest of majorities, held that owners of
tax-exempt property are not part of the required 25 percent because, while their land is included in the "valuation" of property tax, they owners are not "assessed" a tax.
1,
tax-exempt property held under a lease for a term of at least one year is considered for tax purposes as the property of the person holding it.
The city has a high percentage of
tax-exempt property due primarily to a number of state owned facilities, including CCSU and two regional non-profit hospitals, as well as religious institutions, libraries and museums located in the city.
Rothman, who is concerned about a potential commuter tax on his constituents, said the state should grant Harrisburg an exception on the taxing authority due to the extent of
tax-exempt property within its borders.
In addition, there is
tax-exempt property in the town with a market value of $30.3 million.
As the amount of
tax-exempt property has grown in recent years, it has placed a greater burden on the city's tax-paying property owners to fund the municipal government and services.
It therefore was no surprise Tuesday night when the council once again brought up, for the umpteenth time over the past how-many years, the idea of having
tax-exempt property owners make voluntary payments to the city for the municipal services they receive.
County assessment records show that the
tax-exempt property has a real market value of $3.5 million.
Reits are
tax-exempt property investment vehicles which have been popular with investors in the US, Australia and Japan for many years and are expected to add to the weight of the money chasing property returns in the UK when they are introduced on January 1.
Last year, NLC's City Fiscal Conditions in 2000 annual survey reported that the fair market value of
tax-exempt property for responding cities totaled $177 billion, resulting in foregone property tax losses of $2.6 billion.
* Lessors of
tax-exempt property. The proposal would deny a lessor the ability to recognize a net loss from a leasing transaction involving tax-exempt use property during the lease term, effective for leasIng transactions entered into on or after the date of enactment.
An additional proposal would be to increase the amount of
tax-exempt property in, say, $2,500 yearly increments, preferably forever.