Court Opinion

ID: 9552384
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:09:49.21716+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:26:16.080780
License: Public Domain

MAUGHAN, Justice
(dissenting).
For the following reasons I dissent.
The perplexing issue posed by this case is the delineation factually between those instances where the dominant use of the property is for charitable purposes with an incidental use for social purposes and the converse where the charitable purposes cease to be the dominant activity.
In the Elks case1 this court recognized the need of an organization to have a specific location from which to conduct its activities, to provide a rallying point to encourage its members to engage in charitable activities. So long as the members’ activities on the premises are incidental to the charitable use of the premises, the property is exempt from taxation under Article XIII, Section 2, Constitution of Utah.
The intent of the Constitutional fathers for this provision was to encourage charitable works. The rationale was that the presumed benefits to the public would be equivalent to the revenue otherwise derived from the property. Thus in determining whether the primary or dominant use of the property is for charitable purposes, the total contributions to the public) not only in terms of money, but in man hours should be contrasted with the revenue lost through the exemption. It is only when an evaluation of the charitable activities could be deemed de minimus; or could be characterized as an obvious, blatant, attempt at circumvention of taxation, by a few desultory programs of a charitable significance, that the exemption should be denied.
The evaluation in the majority opinion considers only the balance sheet in its determination that the dominant use of the property was for social purposes. There was no mention of the man hours devoted to community projects, such as, the labor expended in repairing facilities in Memory Grove, the ongoing program of contributing blood, and the contributions of goods as well as labor in preparation of Christmas gifts for the impoverished.
The contributions of the membership to the public weal in other forms as well as the specific financial donations exceed the loss of any revenue by granting the exemp*1027tion. The consequence of the majority opinion is to discourage the voluntary activities of organizations which do so much to alleviate human discomfort. It seems to advocate the philosophy that government through public revenues should be the exclusive avenue through which all charitable endeavors should be conducted.

. Benevolent and Protec. Order of Elks No. 85 v. Tax Comm., Utah, 536 P.2d 1214 (1975).