ACTION
ALERT – MARCH 2004
GOOD
SHEPHERD VOICES FOR JUSTICE
STOP
TAXING NON-PROFITS
_____________________________________________
The Good Shepherd Voices for Justice group asks you to consider
taking action today to ask your Wisconsin state representative to reverse
recent legislation that allows for taxation of non-profits.
Non-profit agencies around the state of Wisconsin, many of
whom serve the poor and marginalized that our Catholic social teaching calls us
to look after, (e.g. “preferential option for the poor”), will likely face
property tax bills for which they have previously been exempt. Experts and the
agencies themselves are concerned that this change could force them out of
business and as a result, among other societal impacts, could increase
homelessness. Some in our area that are expected to be effected include, but
are not limited to: the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, AIDS Housing Corp, St. Anne’s
Home for the Elderly, St. John’s Home of Milwaukee, Sojourner Truth House,
Community Advocates and Hope House.
Email or write a letter to your Wisconsin State
Representative urging them to take action.
Below is a sample letter.
We suggest you modify to some degree and use your own phrasing where
possible.
If you need contact information about your representative
and where to send this letter, click here.
-----------------------
SAMPLE LETTER:
March xx, 2004
Dear Members of the Assembly and Senate:
I am writing you today with a sense of deep urgency. As you know, the Wisconsin Supreme Court
recently overturned more than 20 years of accepted practice among local
assessors in its Columbus Park Housing
Corporation v. City of Kenosha ruling. This ruling has immediately
jeopardized the ability of nonprofit organizations to provide housing for low
income and elderly residents.
If the Legislature does not take action before it adjourns,
the consequences will be severe. The
rent of some low income and elderly will dramatically increase in order to
offset the new property taxes; others will be forced out of their homes and
into taxpayer-supported institutions.
Many nonprofit organizations that were barely earning enough revenue to
stay open will shut their doors for good.
And many organizations that had plans to expand their benevolent
activities will shelve those plans.
Please consider the following:
·
Codify the pre-Columbus
Park practice of exempting nonprofit organizations from property taxes when
they lease their property for housing.
There have been many ideas generated over the last few weeks that offer
limited solutions. We believe that
there is neither the time nor the political consensus required for any solution
except the most obvious and simple: a return to the tax-exempt status we all
assumed existed before the Court’s decision.
·
There should be no sunset or grandfather clause in the
legislation. Both of these provisions
would wreck the ability of nonprofit organizations to manage their finances,
which are predicated on their tax-exempt status. Financing or refinancing of debt, for example, will be much more
expensive or impossible with sunset or grandfather clauses.
·
The new legislation must be retroactive to January 1,
2002. State law requires assessors to
collect taxes in the current year (2004) for property mistakenly omitted from
tax assessment in the two previous years (2002 and 2003). Therefore, the legislation must be
retroactive to be fully effective because, as of January 1 of this year,
according to Columbus Park, nonprofit
housing has been “mistakenly omitted” from tax assessments for the previous two
years.
I appreciate your consideration of this letter and your help
with this important matter.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address Here