[hackerspaces] Tax-exempt Geek Group hit with huge tax bill

[Christopher J. Pilkington]

On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 06:37:24PM +0000, Loki wrote:
>    Non-profit hackerspace [3]The Geek Group has been hit with a hefty tax
>    bill despite their tax-exempt status. We featured a [4]boom camera
[snip]
>    for non-profit land holdings before). Thatâs why it comes as quite a
>    surprise when the township slaps a sticker on the doors giving notice
>    of seizure and demanding payment for $47,652.78 in back taxes or the
>    assets will be auctioned off. The entire story, from The Geek Groupâs

Sounds like they just assumed that property taxes don't apply to
501(c)3 organizations.

Many states only exempt organizations from property taxes if
they are public charities in the strictest sense (with a nice
big exemption for houses of worship, who don't seem to have to
divulge their finances.)

Regardless, one needs to apply for exemption from property tax,
his claim that "we're tax-exempt, we don't know a lot about
filing taxes" is bogus.

The neighboring state of Minnesota has been stripping property
tax exemption from child day care centers that are 501(c)3, so I
don't find this so far fetched.