Alliance: 41 Towns Deny Property Tax Exemptions for Nonprofits
by Christine Stuart | Jul 9, 2018 4:00am
HARTFORD, CT — Every four years since 1965, nonprofits have been required to remind municipal tax assessors why they should be exempt from property taxes. But according to a member survey conducted by the Connecticut Community Nonprofit Alliance, municipalities have been denying those tax exemptions on an increasing basis.
About two thirds of the 35 nonprofits responding to the survey said their properties – which had a history of being tax exempt and had no changes of use – were suddenly being denied tax exemptions in 44 towns.
“Why suddenly are assessors looking at nonprofits as a source of revenue?” asks Gian-Carl Casa, the Alliance’s executive director.
Casa said he believes that as municipalities have been losing state aid, they have been looking to make up that revenue by bringing more property onto the tax rolls. The property tax, Casa said, is the only revenue source they control.