Senate Panel Endorses Brubaker Proposal to Protect Public Charities

Public charities across the Commonwealth and the nation play an important role in meeting the needs of our communities and helping vulnerable populations. Their selfless services stand as a shining example of the good that can be accomplished when individuals work together toward a common goal. However, while many of these organizations constantly struggle to attract enough volunteers and donations to meet the demand for services, a recent court ruling added another serious obstacle to their efforts – the threat of considerably higher tax bills.

In 1997, the General Assembly passed a law that ensures purely public charities are exempt from paying local real estate taxes. The law included specific standards for identifying a purely public charity to avoid any confusion regarding which organizations qualify for a tax exemption. But unfortunately, a state Supreme Court ruling last year in Mesivtah vs. Pike County Board of Assessment Appeals applied a different legal standard to determine which organizations qualified for an exemption. This new standard for determining a purely public charity differs significantly from the criteria established by the General Assembly. In the months since the ruling was announced, a number of charities have seen their property tax exemptions revoked by school boards, municipal governments and other taxing bodies.