CHA testimony supports not-for-profits' tax exemption.
As the activities of not-for-profit healthcare facilities have extended increasingly into new areas indirectly related to their healthcare mission, a controversy has grown about whether these activities represent unfair competition for small businesses because of the tax-exempt advantages the not-for-profits enjoy. As a result, policymakers have been examining the unrelated business income tax as it applies to these income-producing activities of not-for-profit organizations. In June 1987, the subcommittee on Oversight of the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held five days of hearings in which it heard testimony from over 100 groups regarding UBIT. Among those testifying was a spokesperson for The Catholic Health Association (CHA), Sr. Bernice Coreil, DC, provincial of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, West Central Province, St. Louis, and secretary-treasurer of the CHA Board of Trustees. Although she was limited to just three minutes of oral testimony, Sr. Coreil also presented a detailed written explanation of the value of not-profit healthcare providers and of the environment in which they must carry out their mission today. This issue is a concern at the state, local, and federal levels as hospitals are being challenged to defend their tax-exempt status. To present the viewpoint of Catholic healthcare facilities, we publish these excerpts of Sr. Coreil's written statement.
D002410:Catholicism; D002608:Charities / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary / Q000191:economics*; D007183:Income Tax / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012952:Societies; D012954:Societies, Hospital; D014481:United States