Coll. Of Paterson v. State Bd. Of Tax Appeals
| Decision Date | 14 December 1943 |
| Docket Number | No. 221.,221. |
| Citation | 34 A.2d 740,131 N.J.L. 57 |
| Parties | COLLEGE OF PATERSON v. STATE BOARD OF TAX APPEALS et al. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
Certiorari proceedings by the College of Paterson against State Board of Tax Appeals and the City of Paterson to review a judgment of the State Board of Tax Appeals denying prosecutor's claimed exemption and affirming the action of the County Board of Tax Appeals.
Writ dismissed.
Syllabus by the Court.
To be exempt from taxation under R.S. 54:4-3.6, N.J.S.A., a college must establish that it is fundamentally a charitable institution, and the proof that it is in that category must be free from fair doubt.
October term, 1943, before BROGAN, C. J., and BODINE and COLIE, JJ.
Edward G. Weiss, of Paterson, for prosecutor.
George Surosky, of Paterson, for respondent City of Paterson.
The question raised on this writ of certiorari is whether the real estate and personal property of the College of Paterson was exempt from taxation by virtue of R.S. 54:4-3.6, N.J.S.A., reading in part: ‘The following property shall be exempt from taxation under this chapter: All buildings actually used for colleges, schools, academies or seminaries; * * * the land whereon * * * the buildings * * * are erected, * * * which * * * does not exceed five acres in extent; the furniture and personal property in said buildings if used in and devoted to the purposes above-mentioned; * * *.’
The real estate was assessed for the tax year of 1941 at $9,100; the personal property at $500. The prosecutor appealed to the Passaic County Board of Taxation, and the assessment was reduced to $8,500 on the real estate; the assessment on the personal property remaining the same. Prosecutor appealed to the State Board of Tax Appeals, asserting its right to exemption on the ground that it was fundamentally a charitable and philanthropic institution, not conducted for profit. The State Board of Tax Appeals denied prosecutor's claim and affirmed the action of the County Board of Tax Appeals. To review this last action, a writ of certiorari was allowed.
College of Paterson was incorporated in 1934 under the act entitled ‘An Act to incorporate associations not for pecuniary profits.’ Laws 1898, c. 181, as amended, N.J.S.A. 15:1-1 et seq. Its object, as stated by Article 2 of its By-Laws is ‘to present to young men and women, in two years study through a flexible curriculum in the fields of arts, science and business those influences that...
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City of Trenton v. State, Division of Tax Appeals, Dept. of Treasury
...'charitable or philanthropic.' But that judge-made condition of statutory tax exemption, College of Paterson v. State Board of Tax Appeals, 131 N.J.L. 57, 34 A.2d 740 (Sup.Ct.1943), was expressly abandoned in The Kimberly School v. Town of Montclair, supra. See 4 Rutgers L.Rev. 109, 110 (19......
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