Opinion: Exemptions by Nonprofits Take a Toll on Philadelphia’s Taxpayers

Philadelphia nonprofit groups’ payments in lieu of taxes have plummeted from $9-million to $300,000 annually in the last 15 years, giving such organizations a “free ride” that is taking a toll on city taxpayers, two area labor leaders argue in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Citing payment figures previously reported by the Philadelphia Daily News, Catherine Scott and Bill Gault, the presidents of local public employees’ and firefighters’ unions, write that the decline in so-called PILOTs (for groups making payments in lieu of taxes) has occurred during a period of major expansion by the city’s nonprofit hospitals and universities, taking additional real estate off the tax rolls.

Philadelphia residents and businesses who are expected to pay an additional $90-million in property taxes this year “are subsidizing the costs of some of the largest, wealthiest and most land-gobbling businesses and landowners in the city,” Ms. Scott and Mr. Gault say. They call on city officials to collect a fair share from PILOTs, from the “eds and meds,” or to scale back police, fire, and other services to the groups.