[Vision2020] IBTA Decisions

[DonaldH675 at aol.com]

The IBTA has announced their decisions on property tax issues related to  
Logos School, New St. Andrews, and the Nuart Theatre aka Community Christian  
Ministries.  The decisions will be posted (it is hoped) within  the next week 
(and I urge those interested to take the time to review them) at:  
_http://www2.state.id.us/bta/Appeal%20Lists/appealslist2005.htm_ 
(http://www2.state.id.us/bta/Appeal%20Lists/appealslist2005.htm) .
 
The IBTA ruled in favor of all three entities.  I am disappointed in  their 
findings but I am appreciative of the opportunity to express our  concerns and 
make our arguments in a public venue.   I believe  that the IBTA "Conclusions 
of Law" (on the Logos and NSA issues) opens the door  to innumerable claims 
from home-schooling families and other alleged  educational institutions for tax 
exemption on their homes or other  properties.  I need hardly remind you who 
will shoulder the tax burden for  that.
 
It is  significant that Logos School, NSA, and CCM have  never provided 
independently audited financial records  to the Latah County Board of Equalization 
or to the Idaho Board of Tax Appeals -  nor have those bodies asked for or 
required such documentation.  In the  case of NSA no financial documents have 
ever been provided - and they fervently  protest (successfully) any suggestion 
that they do so.  Logos School  offered a two year old self-prepared Tax Form 
990.  Mr. Jim Wilson  (director of CCM) provided a self-reported "budget."  (The 
 financial documentation Mr. Wilson offered included the generalized heading  
"Donations." Although the Nuart housed Atlas School - a Christian,  
for-profit boys school, Mr. Wilson testified that he had never charged rent  for that 
use - thus dodging any need for prorated the taxes on the  property.  We 
subsequently learned that instead of rent, Atlas  School administrators provided a 
monthly "donation" which of course was not  identified in the lump sum 
accounting provided by Mr. Wilson)
 
I urge readers of V2020 who are receiving their property tax bills this  week 
to contact the Latah County Commissioners and ask them to require that  all 
entities who receive property tax exemption in this county provide, for the  
public record, a complete financial disclosure which is prepared and  submitted 
by an independent, external, public accounting firm.  It is  unconscionable to 
me that the privilege of tax exemption is extended on the  basis of 
self-assertion of non-profit status.  And, if your property tax  seems a little higher, 
don't forget to thank the members and associates of  Wilson, Inc.
 
Rose Huskey
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rose  Huskey

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight  you, then 
you win." Mahatma Gandhi
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