Aloha to Property Tax Exemptions heads an article in The Nonprofit Quarterly daily news update. The article notes that the Hawaiian legislature is considering increasing the personal property tax exemptions that currently are fixed at around $300 for all nonprofits. As the article points out, some nonprofits are large and some are small. And all of them make some contribution to the community's well being.
What struck me as more important is that this proposal really pits the small against the large given a disproportionate taxation already in place. So what to do? I say nonprofits must organize and be ever-vigilant against such attacks while also being prepared to make their own proposals to address state and municipal fiscal challenges. I do not hear this organizing in the article but the challenge is not singular to Hawaiian nonprofits. Nonprofits Unite!