Court Opinion

ID: 9739439
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:14:49.925357+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:12.214002
License: Public Domain

HANSON, Justice
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I would affirm the well-reasoned decision of the tax court and hold that Rainbow qualifies for tax exempt status .as an institution of purely public charity under Minn. Const, art. X, § 1 and Minn.Stat. § 272.02, subd. 7 (2006).
I appreciate the caution stated by the majority that we are not to apply an “overly rigid reliance on the six North Star factors,” and I agree with the majority’s criticism of some of our past cases for having done so. But I am disappointed that, ultimately, the majority does not heed that caution and, instead, regresses to a strict application of just one of the six North Star factors — relying on some of the very decisions that have fostered confusion.
More specifically, I do not agree that North Star factor three — “whether the recipients of the ‘charity’ are required to pay for the assistance received in whole or in part” — trumps all other factors. N. Star Research Inst. v. County of Hennepin, 306 Minn. 1, 6, 236 N.W.2d 754, 757 (1975) To the contrary, I believe that the question of whether an organization is a charity depends primarily on the nature of the service it provides and only secondarily on the type of funding mechanisms it uses to support that service. Because factor three addresses only one of many funding mechanisms that may be used by a nonprofit organization, it has limited materiality to the question of whether the organization is a charity.
Even if we were, for the first time, to give factor three such overwhelming importance, I believe that the majority has incorrectly applied that factor by focusing only on market rates and not cost. First, I do not believe that any true market rates can be determined for Goodhue County. Second, our cases allow the taxpayer to prove factor three on the basis of either market or cost, and Rainbow has proven that its rates are well below cost.
1. How should the North Star factors be used?
As I argued in the concurring opinion in Croixdale, Inc. v. County of Washington, the six factor test of North Star was designed to provide guidance in determining whether activities that were not traditionally viewed as being charitable could nevertheless qualify as charitable. 726 N.W.2d 483, 492 (Minn.2007) (Hanson, J., concurring). In North Star, we observed that, although an assessment of organizations that deal with traditional charitable *899undertakings could be made by use of the six factors,
[t]he tendency of our decisions has been to sustain exemption where these traditionally “charitable” objectives are being furthered, so long as no individual profits from ownership of the “charity” are realized and so long as the undertaking is not a subterfuge by which the needs of a select and favored few are accommodated.
N. Star, 306 Minn. at 6, 236 N.W.2d at 757.
There is no doubt that the objectives of Rainbow qualify as traditionally charitable. In North Star we identified traditional charitable undertakings as including “education of young people” and the promotion of the “moral and educational welfare of youth.” Id. at 5-6, 236 N.W.2d at 756-57. Rainbow’s articles of incorporation state that Rainbow is “organized exclusively for charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code” and that the specific purposes of Rainbow are “to provide care of children away from their home within the meaning of section 501(k) of the Internal Revenue Code.” One Rainbow witness expanded on these purposes by explaining that Rainbow is engaged in providing for “healthy development of young children so that they can be successful in school and later in life” and providing a “safe environment for children to be in when the[ir] parents are working.” That witness also explained that the government placed a high value on child care services, because a small investment in child care assistance to low income families will produce a high social and economic return, allowing the parents to have consistency of employment, pay taxes, and contribute to the community, while assuring parents that their children are safe and are engaged in appropriate developmental activities. From this I conclude that Rainbow is surely providing services that are traditionally regarded as “charitable.”
Further, Rainbow is organized so that no individual can profit from ownership of its assets. Although persons in control of some nonprofits may have abused the nonprofit status by extracting excessive salaries and benefits, that clearly has not occurred at Rainbow — where the Executive Director drew a salary of only $29,000 in 2005.12 Although Rainbow has acquired some assets, those assets may only be used for the benefit of its charitable services and, on dissolution, they could not go to benefit any individual but must be transferred to another tax-exempt charity. And although some nonprofits may have also abused their nonprofit status by offering their services to only a select and favored few, that clearly has not occurred at Rainbow — where the public is welcome on a nondiscriminatory basis, with no restrictions on who can use the services. In fact, a significant percentage of the parents whose children are served at Rainbow are low income and qualify to receive county assistance. Although Rainbow works with low income parents to help them obtain public assistance, it also provides service to some children with no or lower fees. The statement in the tax court decision and the majority opinion that Rainbow “offers no scholarships” may be semantically true, but the uncontradicted testimony of Rainbow’s Executive Director was that Rainbow has taken children without payment or for payment lower than the going rate, and that Rainbow writes off “several thousands of dollars in unclaimed child care payments every year.”
*900Under North Star, the analysis could end right there and tax exemption should be recognized. But the tax court did not end the analysis there. The court made a thorough and reasoned review of all of the North Star factors. The tax court found that Rainbow was a nonprofit corporation that is exempt from federal and state income taxes; has not realized a profit in any year; meets its expenses by multiple funding mechanisms that include fees, grants, fundraisers, cash and in-kind donations of labor, and government payments; pays reasonable, non-excessive compensation to its employees; provides services to the general public, including low income families; uses its resources to provide benefits equally to all of the users of its services; and provides a service that has been recognized by the state as being important — increasing the availability of affordable child care services for low income families. The tax court found that Rainbow satisfied all but factor three and granted tax exemption.13 The tax court’s decision is persuasive and should be affirmed.
The majority opinion considers only factor three — whether the recipients of the service pay a fee — to be fundamental to the concept of charity. But, as North Star established years ago, the essence of a charity lies in the nature of the service provided, not in the funding mechanisms used to support that service.14 The payment of fees for a charitable service is but one funding -mechanism. Indeed, many charities are well advised to increase the portion of their funding that is self-supporting so they can avoid both the uncertainty of private donations and the time and effort required to obtain them. Rainbow’s Executive Director testified that it limited its requests for private donations to two annual fundraising events because it was concerned that it not “burn out [its] participants because there are so many fundraisers [for] schools and extracurricular programs” and it hoped to reduce the time spent fundraising so that it could maximize the time spent serving the children.
By focusing only on the fact that a charity charges a fee, the majority dilutes the goal of tax exemption. That goal is to encourage charitable services because, as we observed in North Star, “people will benefit in an economic sense from [a] charitable undertaking” that, among other things, provides an education that will enable a young person to “add more to the well-being of a society than one who is not so advantaged.” 306 Minn. at 7, 236 N.W.2d at 757. A charitable undertaking can only contribute to the well-being of society if it has adequate funding to support its operations. From this perspective, it should not matter whether that funding is in the form of fees, grants, private donations, public payments or some combination of these. The state’s legitimate concern with the use of fees for part of the funding is that it not produce excessive earnings, support excessive compensation, or enable the organization to serve a select and favored few. The record does not provide any basis for having those concerns about Rainbow.
2. What are “considerably reduced rates”?
The majority opinion states that a charity must “provide a substantial proportion *901of its goods and services” to recipients “free of charge or at considerably reduced rates.” The majority opinion then reduces that principle to a simple formula that compares Rainbow’s published rates to the rates of two other child care centers to establish a “market rate.”
None of our prior decisions gives such prominence to factor three. Instead, our decisions recognize factor three as only one part of a multipart test. Further, those cases have identified two alternative measures to satisfy factor three — market or cost. E.g., Croixdale, Inc., 726 N.W.2d at 494. We have generally framed factor three in terms of whether recipients receive services at a rate “considerably less than market value or cost.” Cmty. Mem’l Home at Osakis, Minn., Inc. v. County of Douglas, 573 N.W.2d 83, 87 (Minn.1997) (internal quotation marks omitted).
There is no dispute that Rainbow’s rates are below cost, because it has operated at a loss in every year of its existence. Further, I would conclude that Rainbow’s rates are also below the market value of its services.

A. What are “market rates”?

We must be candid about the artificiality of any determination of “market rates” for Goodhue County. Rainbow provides services in Red Wing, where only three child care centers had been licensed on the assessment dates for the tax years in question.15 This is a small sampling for establishing a “market.” Further, all three are nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations. This raises several questions about the validity of determining market rates by simply comparing the rates of other child care centers. For example, if all three were to charge equal rates, would all three be denied tax exemption because none could meet the majority’s requirement that its rates be “considerably below market”? And, should the “market rate” be based on the actual rates charged by nonprofit organizations, which (like Rainbow) typically operate at low cost, benefiting from volunteer labor and donations to cover part of their expenses? If one nonprofit organization is able to subsidize its rates by private donations, do those subsidized rates nevertheless represent the “market”? Can we say that a rate is at “market” if it does not recover even the low nonprofit operating expenses, the organization operates at a loss, and the organization can only stay in operation because it receives private donations to make up the shortfall in operating income?
Perhaps the true “market rates” are those that would be charged by a for-profit corporation. But Red Wing did not have any for-profit child care centers and thus there is no evidence of a true market rate.
Finally, any comparison of rates of other providers should make adjustments for the differing cost levels incurred by each operation and, perhaps more importantly, differences in the type and quality of the services each provides. Rainbow is slightly larger than one of the day care centers and nearly twice as large as the other. And the next largest center has the benefit of being located in a church facility. As a result, one would expect that Rainbow would have greater space and staff needs, with correspondingly greater insurance costs.
Further, Rainbow’s staff is capable of providing a greater range of services. As the Executive Director of the Child Care Resource’s Referral Program testified, Rainbow has both English-and Spanish-speaking staff, whereas the other two centers have only English-speaking staff. He *902confirmed that this was an important factor with the growing Hispanic population. Further, he explained that Rainbow’s staff has training and experience to serve a greater range of special needs. This witness also emphasized that Rainbow’s infant care program is larger, being licensed for up to 16, while each of the other two were only licensed for up to 8. He explained that there is always a shortage of infant care because it is more expensive to provide and brings in less revenue due to the higher ratio of care givers to each infant.
Given these differences between the type and quality of the services provided, the rates of the other two centers cannot fairly be said to represent the market rate for Rainbow. Even so, Rainbow’s rates compare favorably to them. Its hourly and daily rates are at or below the other two in every age category. Although its weekly rates are somewhat higher in some categories, this only reflects a difference in the degree of discount given to parents who are able to commit to full weeks.
The majority does recognize that Rainbow’s rates are less than the county’s maximum authorized rates but questions whether the tax court was correct in concluding that the county’s maximum rates represent “actual market rates.” I conclude that the county’s maximum authorized rates are actually below market rates and that this would support the conclusion that Rainbow’s rates were well below market.
The maximum rates for Goodhue County provided in the record are those effective July 1, 2006. Those rates were established through a rather tortured process. When Rainbow commenced operations at the subject property in 2003, the maximum rates were frozen at 2002 levels. Act of June 5, 2003, ch. 14, art. 9, § 34, 2003 Minn. Laws 1st Spec. Sess. 1751, 2137-38. Those rates remained frozen at 2002 levels through June 30, 2005. Id. Then, in 2005, the legislature set the maximum rates for the period July 1, 2005, through December 31, 2005, for counties like Goodhue at the greater of the 100th percentile of the rates shown in a 2002 provider rate survey or the rates identified in Department of Human Services Bulletin No. 03-68-07. Act of July 14, 2005, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 4, art. 3, § 1, 2005 Minn. Laws 2454, 2525-26 (codified at Minn.Stat. § 119B.13, subd. 1(a) (Supp.2005)). Commencing January 1, 2006, the maximum rates were increased to the lesser of the 75th percentile for like-care arrangements in the county or the previous year’s rates for like-care arrangements increased by 1.75 percent. Id. In 2006, the legislature increased the maximum rates in counties like Goodhue to the rates for like-care arrangements in the county effective January 1, 2006, increased by six percent. Act of June 2, 2006, ch. 282, art. 2, § 2, 2006 Minn. Laws 1194, 1197 (codified at Minn.Stat. § 119B.13, subd. 1(a) (2006)). From this history, I would conclude that the maximum rates for 2003 through 2006 were well below the market rate.
In any event, Rainbow’s rates compare favorably to the maximum rates authorized for 2006, with the most relevant comparisons being the full day and weekly rates:
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*903[[Image here]]
Based on all of the comparisons noted above, I would conclude that the tax court understated the case when it found that Rainbow’s rates were “at or just below market rates.” I would conclude that Rainbow’s rates were considerably below market and, accordingly, that Rainbow satisfied factor three.

B. Are Rainbow’s rates below cost?

Because of the difficulties in determining market rates, our decisions have turned to an alternative measure: are the rates below cost? This alternative measure does not present the difficulties inherent in the comparison between organizations that offer somewhat different services and have different costs.
It seems counter-intuitive to suggest that Rainbow’s rates might be either above market or above cost where it has operated at a loss for its entire existence. Should a provider be expected to nevertheless reduce its rates, operate at an even greater loss, and hope that it will be able to make up the larger shortfall by private donations? Because the evidence shows that Rainbow pays reasonable salaries and incurs appropriate operating expenses, the fact that its rates still do not cover its costs suggests that the rates are sufficiently below cost to meet the factor three test.
More specifically, the comparison of Rainbow’s operating income (loss) is as follows:
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These calculations include in revenue the payments made by Goodhue County; the Prairie Island Tribal Community; Pierce County, Wisconsin; and the Minnesota Food Program. According to our case law, these payments are more appropriately treated as contributions. See, e.g., Rio Vista Non-Profit Hous. Corp. v. County of Ramsey, 277 N.W.2d 187, 191 (Minn.1979) (holding that the rent assistance paid by the federal government should be treated as a “donation” for the second factor of the North Star test); Assembly Homes, Inc. v. Yellow Medicine County, 273 Minn. 197, 140 N.W.2d 336 (1966) (granting tax exemption to a nursing home even though the resident care was paid for primarily by the county and the Veterans Administration). This is especially true of the Minnesota Food Program, which does not reimburse for fees charged to parents, but instead for the cost of meals served.
Taking the Food Program payments out of revenues would increase the losses in each year by another $24,000. Taking all government payments out of revenues would increase losses by another $90,376 *904in 2003; $147,614 in 2004; and $121,663 in 2005.
Using this alternative measure, Rainbow’s rates were considerably below cost and satisfy factor three of the North Star test.

. The Executive Director's salary in 2003, the first year at the subject property, was $43,000 and in 2004 was $23,000.

. As discussed below, I conclude that the tax court applied factor three too narrowly and that factor three was also met. But even if factor three was not met, the grant of tax exemption is appropriate based on the other five factors.

. Even the county's witness, a former assessor, acknowledged that the "charity” that low income families receive from Rainbow is the service it provides.

. A fourth center was added in 2006, after those tax assessments.