In
Misivtah Eitz Chaim of Bobov v. Pike County Board of Assessment Appeals, (PA Sup. Ct., April 25, 2012), in a 4-3 decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that
Act 55, a statute passed by the state legislature in 1997 in an attempt to expand the non-profit institutions entitled to real property tax exemptions violates the Pennsylvania constitution. At issue in the case was a tax exemption for a Jewish summer camp. The state constitution limits property tax exemptions to institutions of "purely public charity."
Pa. Const. art. VIII, § 2(a)(v). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a 1985 case (
Hospital Utilization Project v. Commonwealth) defined those institutions, holding that they must meet 5 criteria. One of those is that they must relieve the government of some of its burden. The legislature subsequently enacted Act 55 which defined relieving the government of some of its burden broadly. Included was any institution that "Advances or promotes religion and is owned and operated by a corporation or other entity as a religious ministry and otherwise satisfies the criteria" for a purely public charity. The majority held that this expansion goes beyond the definition set out in the
Hospital Utilization Project case, and that Act 55 "cannot excuse the constitutional minimum."
The 3 dissenters in an
opinion by Justice Saylor argued that the Court should give more deference to the legislature in interpreting the constitutional provision at issue. He wrote in part:
I would uphold the General Assembly’s reasonable policy determination that Act 55, with its broader definition of the ways in which an institution can demonstrate that it relieves the government of some of its burden ... serves to advance the morals and ethics of society....
[Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]
