Hughes Institute’s Tax Break Causes Controversy

Officials in a Virginia county are raising questions about property-tax exemptions given to a research center that is part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, reports The Washington Post.

The Hughes Institute receives a tax break totaling more than $3.6-million this year for the facility in the suburban Washington county, the largest tax exemption for a single property owner in the area, the newspaper says.

Next week the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider whether to renew the exemption, which eventually could exceed $6-million a year. The institute, based in Chevy Chase, Md., has a $15-billion endowment and is one of the world’s largest nonprofit organizations.

Critics complain the tax break hurts the county. “I could use that money for our young people. I want that money for affordable housing,” said Stephen J. Snow, a county supervisor.

Some observers say the controversy has less to do with money than with the nonprofit organization’s support of embryonic stem cell research, which many county officials oppose.

“In my opinion, philosophical differences on Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s ideas on stem-cell research might be part of the objection,” said James Burton, a county supervisor who supports the tax exemption. “It’s an ideological objection.”

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