Court Opinion

ID: 9683168
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:23:45.902187+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:45.844943
License: Public Domain

DONNELLY, Judge,
dissenting.
In Salvation Army v. Hoehn, 354 Mo. 107, 114, 188 S.W.2d 826, 830 (1945), this Court disavowed prior decisions which confined “the concept of charity solely to the relief of the destitute * * This Court embraced a concept which would include “all humanitarian activities, * * * rendered at cost or less, which are intended to improve the physical, mental and moral condition of the recipients and make it less likely 'that they will become burdens on society and make it more likely that they will become useful citizens.”
In Franciscan Tertiary Province of Missouri, Inc. v. State Tax Commission, 566 S.W.2d 213 (Mo. banc 1978), this Court held that in order for property to be exempt from taxation under § 137.100: (1) it must be actually and regularly used for purposes purely charitable as “charity” is defined in Salvation Army v. Hoehn, 354 Mo. 107, 114, 115, 188 S.W.2d 826, 830 (1945); (2) it must be owned and operated on a not-for-profit basis; and (3) the dominant use of the property must be for the benefit of an indefinite number of people and must directly or indirectly benefit society generally-
In my view, the majority errs when it adds a fourth requirement to the Franciscan test: that the property “accommodate the ability to pay of the less financially fortunate elderly.”
I respectfully dissent.