title: Private tax-cut plans. Columbia, Tenet push for lower property assessments, despite community-benefit argument.
abstract: The nation's two largest for-profit hospital chains have adopted another cost-cutting strategy: They've hired a small army of consultants and lawyers to persuade local tax assessors that many of their hospitals are overvalued, so they should pay less in real estate taxes. But the strategy carries some risk for the for-profits, which usually cite tax payments as one of their "community benefits."
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hallam
mesh_terms: D005377:Financial Management, Hospital; D006777:Hospitals, Proprietary / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D009096:Multi-Institutional Systems / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013660:Taxes / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States