DuPONT: TAX NON-PROFITS
Red Bank Councilman Mike DuPont says it may be time to end tax-exemptions for most non-profits.
In the latest round of verbal sparring between Red Bank officials and the town’s representatives in Trenton, Councilman Mike DuPont has floated what he hopes is a solution to the borough’s fiscal woes that all can embrace:
Tax non-profits.
It’s done elsewhere, and is under consideration in additional locales, DuPont says in a March 18 letter he sent to state Senator Jennifer Beck.
Previously, the all-Democrat borough council blasted the GOP troika of Beck and Assembly reps Caroline Casgrande and Declan O’Scanlon for failing to lobby on Red Bank’s behalf for a greater share of state aid.
The rationale, the Democrats say, is the unfair burden of nonprofits that own 16.6 percent of the borough’s property, depriving the town of some $1.7 million annually in property taxes.
The Beck team, though, fired back that the council hadn’t shown fiscal restraint of its own when it granted annualized three-percent salary and wage increases to non-unionized workers last year.
In the latest missive, which contains numerous grammatical and syntax errors, DuPont writes:
In light of your most recent negative response, I have come up with another idea for the State who faces steep declines in revenues to assist the State in these difficult times. I am suggesting eliminating various tax exemptions for non for profit groups. For example, maybe requiring charities to pay one (1%) percent tax considering making them subject to sales tax, or a lien of taxes or maybe requiring non-for-profit to enter into payment in lieu of taxes.
Elsewhere in the letter, DuPont says, “I would recommend that Churches and other religious institutes be exempt from the tax measures.”
Here’s the letter in its entirety: dupont-letter-040510
Jan 08, 2012 @ 15:36:24
Mike, I see you actually originated the non-profit taxation idea. I guess you were not too forward thinking that the “free” state money would run out when you were endorsing the town to sell their properties to your partner’s non-profit organizations for a dollar. You guys also were pretty disrespectful to former Red Bank Council people Jennifer Beck and John Curley who went on to higher offices after leaving Red Bank and thinking they would come to your rescue is kind of funny. They also probably know a lot more than most about how the town is run and probably are not too eager to locate some more “free” money for you. Maybe these requests will find their way to Gov. Christie so that he can look into how a Mayor pushed for the town to purchase the property while in office only to then become the developer and receive the property for a dollar that cost the taxpayers 2.4 million. You’ll probably have to wait for the next Democratic Governor of NJ, so until then, you should probably stop giving away property for a dollar to your partners favorite charities.