Boston Nonprofits Asked For Voluntary Contributions Despite Tax Exempt Status

The Boston Globe:

BOSTON -- Boston is asking tax-exempt institutions such as hospitals, universities and cultural centers to make regular voluntary payments that some organizations say come close to a tax bill.

Read the whole story: The Boston Globe

Comments

[billhodges]

07:12 PM on 04/27/2011

The non profits do a much better job allocating the money they receive to the needy than the bloated government. It is the government that has gotten us into this mess in the first place, on the local, state, and federal level.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

02:29 PM on 04/25/2011

Yes. Mainly because most non-profits aren't really non-profit.

If you look at something like Komen, they do make a profit. They reinvest that profit into advertising, and suing people. Plus, the workers get paid. How is that different from a normal business? It's not. Only that their cause is just.

I think we need to be more strict on our definition of "Non-profit."

[tompoe]

02:36 PM on 04/25/2011

I'll remind you that the article was published by corporate media. What can you expect, right? If states would simply add a requirement that all corporations include a non-profit arm, making their products available to the poor and needy at affordable pricing, our nation would be one big social entrepreneurship society, with corporations sharing the sacrifice, and contributing to the health and well-being of our civil society. It's that easy. But, no, corporate media has to cause as much grief and turmoil as possible, to benefit corporate CEO's and their raping and pillaging of America.

[JustThisGuy]

02:12 PM on 04/25/2011

MIT and Harvard already make 'voluntary' payments to the town of Cambridge, just across the river from Boston. Between the two of them, they own about 1/3 of the land, and house thousands of students and a number of other folk.

They may be non-profit, but they do take up land that would generate a lot of tax revenue, and increase the need for town services (some adult students with children live on campus and have their kids attend public school, for example).