Boston's Voluntary Non-Tax Payments

In an article for boston.com, Michael Rezendes outlines Boston's updated tax-related-non-taxing of the city's larger education, health, and cultural nonprofits. He explains:

Although many of the city’s nonprofit organizations have been making so-called Payments In Lieu of Taxes for decades, this marks a major change to a system that feels to some organizations uncomfortably close to tax bills. Boston officials recently mailed letters to leaders at 40 major nonprofits asking them to pay up to 25 percent of what they would owe if their property were not tax-exempt.

Rezendes then reports on his polling of the effected organizations and the responses of the hospital and college representatives who were willing to comment. (No comment from the arts sector.) Their positions range from a willingness to contribute—for colleges especially, the ability of the city they operate in to provide services is key to attracting students—to a wait-and-see mentality.

This story is worth following, both for the response from the Boston arts community and the potential effect on tax-exempt organizations in other communities.