Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Mobilizes Nonprofit Response to Tax-exempt Status Challenge

Update: MCN has been leading the response of Minnesota’s nonprofit sector to a damaging state Supreme Court case that deprives nonprofits of their traditional property tax exemptions. In the case, Under the Rainbow Child Care Center v. Goodhue County, the state Supreme Court held that “(a)n organization that does not provide goods or services free or at considerably reduced rates as a substantial, not just an incidental, part of its operations is not exempt from payment of real property taxes as an institution of purely public charity” under the state Constitution. MCN and the Department of Revenue recently agreed on a moratorium to protect nonprofits’ existing property tax exemptions until new laws are in place and to establish clear guidelines for how new applications for property tax will be evaluated in the interim. For more information, visit the MCN website. Read NCNA Executive Director Audrey Alvarado’s commentary on what is likely to be one of the most important issues facing the nonprofit sector in 2008.