Minnesotans Oppose Taxation of Charities

Nonprofit organizations provide social services, health services, education and arts to the public. Under Minnesota law, nonprofit organizations have been free from paying sales or property taxes because their services benefit the public.

According to a telephone poll commissioned by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, 88% of the general public agree that nonprofit organizations should continue to be free from paying taxes. MCN’s Minnesota State Survey will provide feedback to nonprofit organizations on how the public views the nonprofit sector the issue of nonprofit tax exemptions.

The strongest supporters of nonprofit tax exemptions were people between 18 and 34 years old (93% of respondents were supportive) and people with at least one college degree (91% supportive). Most likely to oppose nonprofit tax exemptions were people with less than a high school education (25% were not supportive) and people older than 64 (21% not supportive). Gender, household income, political party and geographic location were not found to be factors. The lack of split in opinion along income or political party lines is encouraging, as these factors would create the most problems for legislators when deciding their stance on the issue.

This is the third time this survey has been conducted since 1989. Comparing the results over time shows that public support for nonprofit tax exemptions has grown steadily.

Source: Minnesota Council of Nonprofits’ March 98 newsletter

According to the 2004 Minnesota State Survey conducted by the Minnesota Center for Survey Research at the University of Minnesota, when asked “Do you agree or disagree that nonprofit organizations should CONTINUE to be free from paying taxes?”:

64% of respondents strongly agreed
27% of respondents somewhat agreed
7% of respondents somewhat disagreed
3% of respondents strongly disagreed