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The Commerciality Doctrine As Applied To The Charitable Tax Exemption For Homes For The Aged: State And Local Tax Perspectives, David A. Brennen
The Commerciality Doctrine As Applied To The Charitable Tax Exemption For Homes For The Aged: State And Local Tax Perspectives, David A. Brennen
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
This essay examines the question of how state and local government officials should consider federal tax law principles, like the commerciality doctrine, when they challenge state and local property tax exemptions that rely, at least in part, on tax-exempt charitable status for federal income tax purposes. In particular, this essay uses the example of continuing care retirement communities to consider tax-exempt law’s commerciality doctrine in an attempt to discern distinctions between “homes for the aged” that are “charitable,” and thus entitled to exemption, and those that are too commercial, and thus not entitled to exemption. In fact, one might say …
Charities And The Constitution: Evaluating The Role Of Constitutional Principles In Determining The Scope Of Tax Law's Public Policy Limitation For Charities, David A. Brennen
Charities And The Constitution: Evaluating The Role Of Constitutional Principles In Determining The Scope Of Tax Law's Public Policy Limitation For Charities, David A. Brennen
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
This Article expands the discussion of whether tax-exempt charities, for constitutional law purposes, should be treated as government actors, as private actors or as something in between. While government actors are subject to constitutional law restrictions concerning discrimination and free speech, private non-government actors are not generally subject to these same restrictions. Although tax-exempt charities are often thought of as sovereigns and, thus, government-like, the fact remains that charities are private entities created to serve public purposes. As private entities, charities - like all other private entities - are not necessarily bound by constitutional law principles. Still, the many “public” …