How much "real" value do tax exempt organizations contribute to a community? This is the core question for the CT legislative committee considering ending tax exemption from CT private schools' housing. This story in the New Haven Register identifies Bill 6804 as in conversation on this matter citing testimony from schools (of course), a United Way, and towns.
I suppose the good news is the committee is not considering removing tax exemption for these schools all together. One could argue that could have been a proposal given that these schools do tend to have a significant number of students whose family has wealth and thus, the school's tax exemption is really a subsidy for the wealthy. But this bridge has been crossed and in reality the current federal administration is not looking to increase but reduce the already minimus taxes already paid by the wealthy.
But this proposal is about the non-academic property that schools use to house their students and administrative functions. One might argue that this makes sense. But of course the private schools are arguing that the ability to provide housing to faculty offsets what might be higher tuition costs and that these properties add value to the community.
I would pose that both arguments have merit and that more work should be done to estimate the tangible contributions, in dollars, that these properties contribute to the town. Both the schools and the legislature may have good points and that should be considered. Check-out the full article in the April 27 New Haven Register.