Everyone’s doing it | Becoming a non-profit to avoid paying property taxes. It was a topic of discussion at last night’s Council budget meeting when a councillor elect asked whether the borough has a list of the non-profit properties in Columbia.

This is from an August 2016 Columbia news, views & reviews post:

How many of Columbia’s non-profits make “in-lieu-of” payments to the Borough for public services?

The Borough responded to our “right to know” request and provided a list of four of the up to 100 or so registered non-profits.

These four contributed a total of $12,150 in 2015.

Each year the borough office sends this notice to the registered non-profits to encourage them to consider an “in lieu of taxes” contribution.

Click on the above illustration to view in a larger format.

non-profits across the county contend they provide significant services that benefit persons in the communities they exist. Many citizen tax payers, however, are burdened with increasing tax payments for services.”

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“Wondering how The Salt Lake Tribune got 501(c)(3) status? | Here’s their entire application to the IRS — and the IRS’s response” – Nieman Lab 

“Nonprofit status is not a business model; any nonprofit outlet still needs to figure out how to bring in diverse revenue to become sustainable rather than rely on one benefactor who could pull the funding at any time.”